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U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTIC* 


ROYAL  MEEKER,  Commissioner 


BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  [ 
BUREAU  OF   LABOR  STATISTICS  J 


{No.  253 


INDUSTRIAL     ACCIDENTS    ANDHYGIENE     SERIES 


WOMEN  IN  THE  LEAD 
INDUSTRIES 


ALIGS  HAMILTON,  M.  &, 


FEBRUARY,  1919 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1919 


M/^/'^ 


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http://www.archive.org/details/womeninleadindusOOhami 


U,  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS 

ROYAL  MEEKER,  Ccmmissioner 


BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  ) 
BUREAU   OF    LABOR    STATISTICS  J 


{No.  253 


INDUSTRIAL     ACCIDENTS     AND     HYGIENE     SERIES 


E  LI 
INDUSTRIES 


ALICE  HAMILTON,  M.  D. 


FEBRUARY,  1919 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1919 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

What  is  iadustrial  lead  poisoning  ov  plumbism? 5-8 

Individual  susceptibility 8-10 

Lead  poisoning  in  women 10-12 

Lead  compoiinds  used  in  industry,  and  their  comparative  danger 13, 14 

How  does  lead  enter  the  body? -_  14, 15^ 

Lead  industries  in  the  United  States 15-37 

Lead  mining 17 

Lead  smelting  and  refining 17-19 

Trades  in  which  metallic  lead  is  used 19-27 

The  printing  trades 22-26 

Women  in  the  printing  trades 25,  26 

Type  founding 26 

Summary  of  the  metallic-lead  industries 27 

Manufacture  of  white  lead 27-29 

Grinding  of  paint 29 

Painting  trade 29-31 

Commercial  artists  or  retouchers 31 

Lithotransfer  work,  or  decalcomania 31 

Manufacture  of  red  lead  and  litharge,  or  "roasting  oxides  ' 32 

Manufacture  of  storage  batteries 32-35 

Glazing  of  pottery  and  tiles 35-37 

Manufacture  of  porcelain  enameled  sanitary  ware 37 

Compounding  of  rubber 37 

Prevention  of  lead  poisoning 37,  38 

3 


BULLETIN  OF  THE 
U.  S.  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS. 


NO.  253.  WASHINGTON.  February,  1919 


WOMEN  IN  THE  LEAD  INDUSTRIES. 

Lead  is  by  far  the  most  common  industrial  poison,  being  respon- 
sible, according  to  Teleky,^  for  no  less  than  95  per  cent  of  all  the 
poisoning  due  to  occupation.  Layet  -  tells  us  that  there  are  111  occu- 
pations in  France  in  which  lead  poisoning  may  occur,  and  at  the  time 
the  Commission  on  Occupational  Diseases  in  Illinois  made  its  report 
(January,  1911),  more  than  70  occupations  carried  on  in  that  State 
had  been  found  to  give  rise  to  lead  poisoning.  Not  only  in  Europe, 
but  also  in  this  country,  industrial  lead  poisoning  is  a  fairly  familiar 
occurrence ;  but  while  in  Europe  women  have  been  long  employed  in 
the  lead  trades  and  have  suffered  from  the  effects  of  lead,  in  America 
there  have  been  but  few  women  in  such  occupations,  and  lead  poison- 
ing among  them  is  not  at  all  common.  Now,  however,  women  are 
beginning  to  enter  the  occupations  in  which  exposure  to  lead  is  inevi- 
table, and  it  is  very  important  to  look  carefully  into  the  question  of 
their  emplojnnent  in  such  occupations,  and  to  determine  whether  it 
will  be  better  to  safeguard  them  by  requiring  employers  to  use  every 
known  means  to  reduce  or  eliminate  the  hazard  of  lead  poisoning  or 
by  prohibiting  the  employment  of  women  entirely  in  those  occupa- 
tions in  which  lead  poisoning  constitutes  a  considerable  hazard. 

WHAT  IS  INDUSTRIAL  LEAD  POISONING  OR  PLUMBISM? 

It  is  well  to  begin  with  a  brief  description  of  Avhat  lead  does  to  the 
human  system.  When  a  person  is  exposed  to  lead-laden  dust,  or 
habitually  eats  his  food  with  lead-soiled  hands,  the  poison  accumu- 
lates in  his  system  and  usually  attacks  the  digestive  tract  and  the 
blood  first.  It  seldom  happens  nowadays  that  very  acute  or  severe 
forms  of  lead  poisoning  are  caused  by  exposure  to  lead  during  Avork. 
Some  years  ago  men  did  at  times  develop  severe  symptoms  of  colic 
and  even  convulsions  after  only  a  few  weeks'  exposure  to  lead  dust  in 

1  Teleky ;  HaBdworterlmch  der  Sozialen  Hygiene.     Leipzig,  1912,  Vol.  II,  p.  737. 
2 Layet:  Hygiene  des  Professions  et  des  Industries.    Paris,  1875, 

5 


6  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

the  smelters  or  wliite-lead  Avorks.  or  in  storage-battery  plants,  or  in 
enameling  sanitar}'  Avare.  But  the  improvements  in  factory  hygiene 
that  have  been  made  of  late  years  liavc  caused  such  distressing  oc- 
currences to  become  almost  a  thing  of  the  past.  A  tj'pical  case  of  in- 
dustrial lead  poisoning  comes  on  sloAvh'.  The  man  acquires  a  peculiar 
pallor  which  foremen  and  workmen  soon  learn  to  recognize,  and 
which  is  caused  partl\'  b}^  poverty  of  the  blood  because  of  destruction 
of  the  red  blood  corpuscles,  and  partly  by  contraction  of  the  surface 
blood  vessels.  He  begins  to  lose  his  appetite,  especially  for  break- 
fast, for  his  mouth  is  foul  when  he  first  gets  up  and  he  may  vomit  if 
he  tries  to  eat  solid  food.  A  peculiarly  disagreeable  sweetish  taste 
is  one  of  the  early  symptoms  and  increases  the  repugnance  to  food. 
Then  he  begins  to  lose  strengih.  to  get  tired  easily,  and  to  have  head- 
aches, and  pains  in  his  limbs.  He  is  almost  always  constipated,  and 
this  trouble  increases  till  it  may  culminate  in  an  attack  of  agonizing 
colic,  with  complete  stoj^page  of  the  bowels.  This  so-called  lead  colic 
is  what  the  men  themselves  and  many  pliA'sicians  mean  when  they 
speak  of  acute  lead  poisoning,  although  a  man  has  usually  been 
suffering  from  lead  poisoning  for  some  time  before  the  colic  develops, 
and  may  be  severely  poisoned  without  ever  having  colic. 

If,  after  an  attack  of  acute  lead  colic,  the  man  goes  into  more  health- 
ful work  he  will  probably  recover  completely  from  the  effects  of 
the  lead,  though  there  are  authorities  who  insist  that  even  one  attack 
leaves  permanent,  even  if  slight,  changes  in  the  blood  vessels  and  in 
the  liver.  But  if  the  man  goes  back  to  the  same  work,  he  develops 
the  chronic  form  of  lead  poisoning,  with  perhaps  recurrent  attacks 
of  colic.  Chronic  lead  poisoning  is  essentially  a  disease  of  the  blood 
vessels,  leading  to  degeneration  of  the  organs,  the  liver,  kidneys,  and 
heart  especially,  to  atrophy  of  the  digesti^'e  glands,  and  to  prema- 
ture old  age. 

"With  either  the  acute  or  the  clii'onic  form  of  lead  poisoning  tliere 
may  be  inAolvement  of  the  nervous  system.  If  the  poison  attacks  the 
nerves  and  their  endings,  paralysis  comes  on,  most  commonly  in  the 
arms  and  wrists,  sometimes  in  the  shoulders  and  legs.  If  it  attacks 
the  brain  there  are  severe  headaches,  disturbances  of  sight,  dizziness 
or  loss  of  consciousness,  with  convulsions  Avhich  ma}^  be  fatal,  or 
which  may  be  followed  by  mental  derangement,  more  or  less  lasting. 

These  forms  of  lead  poisoning  are  fairly  easy  to  recognize,  but  there 
are  others  less  clear.  Indeed,  there  is  no  known  poisonous  substance 
which  can  give  rise  to  such  a  variety  of  symptoms  as  lead.  The  rule 
laid  down  b}'  specialists  is  that  the  occupation  must  always  be  con- 
sidered in  making  a  diagnosis  of  lead  poisoning;  that  is,  that  if 
a  patient  is  known  to  be  working  in  lead,  symptoms  which  would  not 
be  considered  of  great  significance  ordinarily  must  be  taken  seriously, 


WOMEN    IN-    THE    LEAD   IXDUSTEIES.  7 

because  they  may  point  to  the  beginning  of  lead  poisoning.  Oliver^ 
says  that  pallor  and  sallowness,  with  metallic  taste,  especially  in  the 
morning,  are  common  early  symptoms.  If  the  distaste  for  food  is  in- 
creasing, the  individual  should  retire  or  be  suspended  from  work, 
for  it  is  one  of  the  earliest  indications  that  the  resistance  to  lead  has 
become  diminished.  Obstinate  constipation  and  a  sense  of  tiredness 
out  of  proportion  to  the  amount  of  energy  expended  are  also  com- 
plained of. 

The  typical  paralysis  of  the  lead  worker  is  known  as  "  painter's 
palsy,"  because  it  is  much  more  common  in  painters  than  in  any  other 
class  of  lead  workers.  It  begins  in  the  wrist,  affecting  the  muscles 
that  lift  the  hand,  so  that  as  it  increases  the  hand  tends  to  fall  and 
hang  helplessl}',  a  condition  known  as  "  wrist-drop.*'  The  reason 
painters  get  wrist-drop  is  that  they  use  the  muscles  of  the  w^rist  more 
than  any  others,  and  this  overuse  determines  the  localization  of  the 
palsy.  Men  who  use  other  muscles,  such  as  those  of  the  shoulders  or 
legs,  get  the  paralysis  in  those  muscles.  Among  white-lead  workei-s 
weakness  of  the  muscles  of  the  leg  and  ankle  is  quite  as  common  as 
weakness  of  the  wrist,  for  these  men  do  not  make  fine  movements 
with  the  arms  as  painters  do.  Thej^  may  also  have  a  widely  dis- 
tributed paralysis  involving  the  muscles  of  the  trunk,  back,  and 
shoulders. 

Lead  poisoning  of  the  central  nervous  system  is  a  very  distressing 
form,  fortunately  much  less  common  now  than  it  was  a  few  years 
ago.  It  is  more  likely  to  develop  after  excessive  exposure  to  lead 
dust,  such  as  used  to  occur  in  the  making  of  white  lead  and  red  lead, 
in  mixing  paste  for  storage  batteries,  in  shaking  lead  enamel  over  red- 
hot  bathtubs  and  sinks,  in  cleaning  out  the  flues  and  bag  houses  of 
lead  smelters,  or  even  in  putting  lead  glaze  on  pottery  and  tiles.  The 
victim  would  suffer  from  something  resembling  an  attack  of  epilepsy, 
or  would  become  delirious  and  regain  consciousness  only  partially 
or  be  out  of  his  head  for  some  days,  or  death  might  occur  during  the 
convulsion  or  during  the  unconsciousness  that  follou'ed  it. 

Another  form  of  lead  poisoning  of  the  central  nervous  system  is 
very  much  more  gradual  in  its  development,  and  is  seen  chiefl}^  in 
men  who  follow  a  lead  trade  for  many  years  and  suffer  from  a  slow 
chronic  poisoning.  In  such  cases  the  blood  vessels  of  the  brain 
gradually  harden,  and  the  brain  tissue  is  starved  for  blood,  so  that 
mental  deterioration  takes  place,  and  the  man  becomes  increasingly 
helpless  and  demented.  It  is  among  painters  that  this  lead  insanity 
most  often  occurs. 


1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bui.  No.  95  ;  Iiulnstrial  lead  poisoning-,  with  descriptions  of 
lead  processes  iu  certain  industries  in  Great  Britain  and  tlie  western  States  of  Europe,  by 
Sir  Thomas  Oliver,  M.  D.,  p.  98. 


8  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

One  more  rather  obscure  form  of  lead  poisoning  should  be  men- 
tioned, namely,  the  neurasthenia  of  chronic  lead  poisoning.  Accord- 
ing to  Hirsch  ^  this  is  quite  a  common  condition,  but  one  often  not 
recognized  bj'  the  ordinary'  ph.ysician.  The  victim  suffers  from  obsti- 
nate lieadaches,  from  morning  vomiting,  and  from  pain  that  is  not 
typical  colic.  He  is  depressed  and  irritable,  sleeps  badly,  has  tremors 
of  the  muscles,  and  is  easily  exhausted.  Such  cases  are  very  apt  to  be 
regarded  as  ordinary  neurasthenia,  but  they  do  not  clear  up  unless 
the  patient  is  taken  away  from  lead  work. 

Lead  loAvers  the  resistance  of  the  body  to  infections,  especially  such 
infections  as  tubercnlosis  and  blood  poisoning.  Certain  industries, 
as,  for  instance,  the  typographical  trades,  have  always  had  a  far 
larger  proportion  of  tuberculosis  than  can  be  accounted  for  in  any 
way  except  on  the  ground  of  a  lowered  resistance  to  tuberculosis 
caused  by  the  absorption  of  lead.  Suppurative  inflanmiations  also 
are  more  common  among  lead  workers  than  among  men  not  exposed 
to  lead.  The  men  themselves  say  that  if  a  lead  worker  cuts  himself 
the  cut  always  festers,  because  the  lead  gets  in  and  poisons  the  cut. 
What  really  occurs  is  that  the  gerins  of  suppuration  get  in  and  the 
tissues,  being  affected  by  the  lead,  do  not  offer  much  resistance  to 
them, 

INDIVIDUAL  SUSCEPTIBILITY. 

The  most  superficial  study  of  lead  poisoning  in  industry  is  enough 
to  show  how  widely  men  differ  in  their  susceptibility  to  this  poison. 
Every  foreman  knows  that  there  are  men  who  can  stand  hardly  any 
exposure  to  lead,  wliile  others  can  handle  it  for  years  with  impunity. 
In  even  the  worst  factories  there  are  at  least  one  or  two  old  workmen 
who  have  apparently  breathed  and  swallowed  lead  compounds  for 
from  25  to  40  years,  and  yet  have  remained  appai'ently  healthy.  In 
one  white-lead  factory  the  records  show  that  one  of  the  employees 
began  to  feel  symptoms  of  lead  poisoning  at  the  end  of  two  weeks' 
time.  He  died  of  acute  plumbism  after  five  and  a  half  months'  work. 
In  the  same  factory  was  a  man  who  had  worked  in  clouds  of  white- 
lead  dust  for  3-2  years,  ever  since  lie  was  a  boy  of  12,  and  had  felt  no 
ill  effects. 

Hilt,  who  had  long  experience  in  industrial  lead  poisoning,  says 
that  20  to  30  per  cent  of  all  lead  workers  are  not  susceptible.  Of  the 
remaining  70  to  80  per  cent  a  little  over  one-half  (about  40  per  cent 
of  the  whole  number)  sicken  quickly,  the  others  more  slowly.  This 
means  that  in  every  force  of  workmen  there  will  be  some  who  will  be 
seriously  injured  by  the  ])oison  if  they  remain  in  the  industry,  and 
who  ought  to  be  weeded  out  as  soon  as  this  fact  is  recognized,  others 

*  IlirBch,  in  Deutsche  mediziniache  Wochcnschiift,  vol.  40,  1914,  p.  369. 


WOMEN    IN    THE    LEAD   INDUSTRIES.  9 

wlio  will  not  seem  to  be  lianned  by  it  at  all,  antl  still  others  avIio  piob- 
ably  can  be  protected  from  poisoning  if  all  proper  precautions  are 
taken,  but  who  nnist  be  watched  and  examined  by  a  physician  occa- 
sionally' to  make  sure  that  they  are  being  adequately  protected. 

It  is  wholly  inadmissible  for  employers  to  hold  that  because  some 
employees  of  unusual  resistance  escape  poisoning  employers  are  not 
responsible  for  those  who  fall  victims  to  it.  Individual  suscepti- 
l)ility  plays  a  large  part  in  many  forms  of  sickness.  If  there  is 
typhoid-infected  water  in  a  village  of  500  inhabitants,  there  will  not 
be  500  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  even  though  everyone  drinks  the  water. 
There  may  not  even  be  50  cases.  But  for  all  the  typhoid  fever  that 
does  develop  the  infected  watei'  must  be  held  responsible. 

It  may  be  well  to  giA'e  some  illustrations  of  unusual  susceptibility 
to  lead  poisoning.  Such  cases  are  not  typical,  of  course,  but  they 
do  occur  often  enough  to  make  it  necessary  for  us  to  take  cognizance 
of  them.  For  instance,  painters  usually  do  not  develop  symptoms 
of  lead  poisoning  till  after  several  years,  sometimes  even  15  or  20 
years  in  the  trade.  Yet,  out  of  100  painters  with  lead  poisoning 
whose  histories  were  secured,  12  had  sickened  in  less  than  a  year's 
time.  Among  167  cases  of  lead  i^oisoning  among  smelters  the  ma- 
jority w'ere  exposed  for  more  than  three  months  before  they  became 
poisoned,  but  18  sickened  after  only  one  to  three  weeks'  expoouic. 
Among  186  sanitary- ware  enamelers  the  majority  had  worked  for 
more  than  five  years  before  they  were  poisoned,  but  21  had  worked 
less  than  six  months.  A  wdiite-lead  worker  in  Philadelphia  went  to 
a  hospital  with  acute  lead  poisoning  after  three  days'  work  emptying 
the  dry  pans  in  a  very  insanitary  factory.  Another  very  rapidly 
developing  case  was  a  bathtub  enameler  who  came  down  w:ith  lead 
colic  after  four  days'  work. 

Work  in  a  tin  shop  is  not  regarded  as  involving  much  danger  of 
lead  poisoning,  yet  a  record  was  obtained  of  one  tin-shop  worker  who 
was  treated  not  only  for  lead  colic  but  for  lead  rheumatism  and 
anemia,  after  only  two  months'  work.  A  storage-battery  w^orker, 
wdio  mixed  lead  oxides  into  paste  by  hand,  was  a  tall  and  strongly 
built  man,  who  said  that  he  had  never  been  sick  in  his  life  before ; 
but  after  two  weeks'  work  he  began  to  feel  ill,  with  loss  of  appetite, 
headache,  and  digestive  disturbances,  and  at  the  end  of  11  weeks  he 
Avent  to  the  hospital  with  typical  lead  colic. 

There  are  other  instances  which  show  an  unusually  severe  i-e- 
action  to  the  entrance  of  lead  into  the  system.  A  Hungarian  found 
in  a  Pittsburgh  hospital  had  worked  for  four  years  in  a  paint  factory 
near  Pittsburgh.  He  came  to  the  hospital  with  colic,  vomiting,  and 
diarrhea.  He  was  emaciated,  dull,  and  apathetic,  understanding 
what  Avas  said  to  him,  but  ansAvering  sluggishly.  He  Avas  anemic, 
94261"— 19— Bull.  2.53 2. 


10  BULLETIN   OF    TH&  BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

with  70  per  cent  heinoglolnn ;  his  limbs  wore  soft  and  flabby;  his 
muscles  were  wasted.  The  most  serious  change,  however,  was  a  gen- 
eral hardening  of  the  arteries,  one  consequence  of  Avhich  had  been 
hemorrhages  into  the  retina,  impairing  his  sight. 

Another  instance  is  that  of  a  nuin  Avho  was  employed  in  insanitary 
white-lead  works  for  eight  weeks.  lie  also  said  that  he  had  had  no 
illness  since  childhood.  He  went  to  the  hospital  Avith  colic,  consti- 
pation, pains  in  his  shoulders,  arms,  and  legs,  and  increasing  loss  of 
power  in  the  limbs.  He  remained  in  the  hospial  four  weeks,  and 
when  discharged  he  had  double  wrist-drop  and  partial  paralA'sis 
of  the  ailkles.  A  strong,  young  SUivic  workman  was  employed  for 
five  months  pouring  lead  glaze  over  roof  tiles.  He  began  to  feel 
sick,  liad  a  bad  taste  in  his  mouth,  was  nauseated,  could  not  eat,  felt 
weak,  and  "  no  good."  He  kept  on  working,  however,  for  eight 
weeks  more,  and  then  one  da}',  just  as  he  had  reached  home  after 
work,  a  violent  attack  of  colic  came  on  and  he  lost  consciousness. 
This  was  followed  by  maniacal  delirum  for  48  hours,  during  which 
time  he  seemed  to  be  in  great  pain.  After  this  passed  over  he  was 
dazed  and  confused,  Avith  loss  of  memory  and  impairment  of  vision, 
for  about  tAvo  weeks.  His  mind  then  cleared,  but  three  months  later 
he  was  still  pale  and  had  not  recovered  his  strength. 

It  is  a  generally  recognized  fact,  based  on  Avide  experience  in  the 
older  countries,  that  tlie  young  of  both  sexes  are  more  susceptible 
to  lead  poisoning  than  are  fulh'  developed  men  and  Avomen.  Legge 
and  Goadby'  say  Avith  regard  to  this:  ''The  clinical  conclusions  of 
appointed  surgeons  in  the  various  lead  factories  Avould  be,  Ave  be- 
lieve, that  the  susceptibility  of  yomig  persons  is  at  least  twice  that 
of  adults,  and  there  is  some  ground  for  supposing  that  the  tissues  of 
an  adult,  Avhen  growth  has  ceased,  more  readily  adapt  themselves 
to  deal  with  the  absorption  and  elimination  of  poisonous  doses  of 
lead  than  do  the  tissues  of  a  young  person.'' 

LEAD  POISONING  IN  WOMEN. 

British  observers  Avho  have  had  much  expei'ience  Avith  women 
exposed  to  lead  in  the  Avhite-lead  industr}'^,  and  even  more  in  Ihe 
potteries,  hold  that  women  are  more  susceptible  to  lead  than  are 
men.  Oliver^  says:  "So  far  as  occupation  ex^wsure  to  lead  is  con- 
cerned, my  opinion  is  (1)  that  Avomen  are  more  susceptible  than 
men;  (2)  <liat  while  female  liability  is  greatest  between  the  ages 
of  18  antl  '2;>  years,  that  of  men  is  later;  and  (3)  that,  Avhihj  fciaahvs 
rapidly  break  down  in  health  under  the  influence  of  lead,  men  can 
woik  a  longer  time  in  the  factory  Avithout  suffering,  their  resistance 
apparently  being  greater." 

•  LPSrgp  and  Oontlby  :  Lead  polsoninjf  .nnd  load  nl)soipUon.     London,  1912,  p.  .'?5. 
•Oliver:   Dangerous  Tradi-s.      London.   lO-TJ.   p.  2!>«;. 


WOMEiT  IX   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  11 

Legge  and  Goadby  ^  also  liold  that  women  are  more  susceptible 
to  poisoning  by  lead  than  men.  Legislation  in  Great  Britain  has 
followed  these  authorities,  and  women  are  barred  from  some  of  the 
most  dangerous  lead  work.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans  believe  " 
that  the  apparently  greater  susceptibility  of  women  to  lead  poison- 
ing is  to  be  explained  not  by  their  sex.  but  by  the  fact  that  they  are 
usuall}'  more  poverty-stricken  than  the  men,  are  undernourished  and 
obliged  to  do  Avork  for  their  families  in  addition  to  their  factoi'y 
work.  Then,  also,  a  woman's  skirt  and  hair  collect  the  lead  dust, 
so  that  she  carries  it  home  with  her  after  work.  Observations  in  the 
pottery  industry  in  this  country  ^  seemed  to  bear  out  the  German 
theory,  for  while  a  much  larger  proportion  of  women  than  of  men 
were  found  suffering  from  lead  poisoning  in  the  East  Liverpool  and 
Trenton  districts,  it  was  also  found  that  in  these  districts  the  men 
are  members  of  a  strong  union,  are  well  paid,  and  have  good  living 
conditions,  while  the  women  are  unorganized,  underpaid,  poorly 
housed,  poorly  fed,  and  subject  to  the  worry  and  strain  of  support- 
ing dependents  on  low  wages.  In  the  unorganized  pottery  fields,  in 
the  tile  works,  and  in  the  art  potteries  of  the  Zanesville  district  the 
men  and  women  were  in  the  same  economic  class,  all  making  low 
wages,  with  everything  which  that  implies,  and  here  the  rate  of 
lead  poisoning  was  slightly  greater  among  the  men. 

Whether  or  not  women  are  more  susceptible  to  lead  poisoning  than 
men,  it  seems  to  be  true  that  they  are  more  likely  to  have  the  nervous 
form  of  lead  poisoning  than  are  men.  Women  suffer  more  from  lead 
convulsions  and -lead  blindness,  men  from- lead  paralysis  and  lead 
colic.  The  following  are  some  figures  that  Prendergast,*  a  British 
physician,  'who  practiced  many  years  in  the  Staffordshire  pottery 
district,  has  published.  The}^  are  based  on  640  cases  of  lead  poison- 
ing: 

Men.  Women. 

Colic 77.  6  per  cent  69.  8  per  cent 

Paralyses  _ _ 57.  0  per  cent  30.  0  per  cent 

Lead  convulsions 15.  0  per  cent  34.  9  per  cent 

Blindness   (total) 2.  3  per  cent  7.  7  per  cent 

Blindness    (partial) 3.  5  per  cent  10.  2 per  cent 

But  the  most  disastrous  effect  that  lead  has  upon  women  is  the 
effect  on  the  generative  organs.  Women  who  suffer  from  lead  poison- 
ing are  more  likely  to  be  sterile  or  to  have  miscarriages  and  still- 
births than  arc  women  not  exposed  to  lead.    If  they  bear  living  chil- 

*  Legge  and  Goadby  :  Lead  poisoning  and  lead  absorption.     London,  1902,  p.  35. 

*  Agnes  Blulim,  in  Weyl's  Handbuch  der  Hygiene,  vol.  S,  1897,  p.  S8. 

=  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bui.  No.  104  :  Lead  poisoning  in  potteries,  tile  works, 
and  porcelain  enameled  sanitary  ware  factories,  by  Alice  Hamilton,  M.  D.,  pp.  56-58. 

*  Treudergast,  in  British  Medical  Journal,  vol.  1,  1910,  p.  11G4. 


12  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BrEEAU   OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

(Ircn  tliose  are  more  likely  to  die  during  the  first  year  of  life  than  are 
the  cliildien  of  women  mIio  have  never  been  exposed  to  lead.  This 
means  that  lead  is  a  race  poison,  and  that  lead  poisoning  in  womi^n 
affects  not  only  one  generation,  but  two  generations.  Ver}'  striking 
l)roof  of  this  fact  is  given  by  English  authorities  on  industrial  disease. 
Legge  ^  abstracted  from  the  reports  of  British  factory  inspectors  for 
the  year  1897  the  folloAving  statistics  concerning  Avoman  lead  Avorkers: 
Out  of  77  married  Avomen,  15  never  became  pregnant.  Of  the  62 
Avho  became  pregnant,  15  neA-er  bore  a  living  child.  Among  all  the 
G"2  there  Avere  212  pregnancies,  but  these  resulted  in  only  61  living 
children ;  the  stillbirths  numbered  21,  the  miscarriages  90,  and  of  the 
101  children  born  alive,  40  died  soon  after  birth. 

Another  striking  report  comes  fiom  the  British  factory  inspection 
service.    Oliver'^  gives  the  folloAving  figures: 

Miscarriages 

and 

stillbirths. 

100  mothers  in  housework 43,  2 

100  mothers  in  niillwork,  not  lead 47.  6 

]00  mothers  in  lead  work  before  marriage 86.  0    * 

100  mothers  in  lead  work  after  marriage 133.5 

In  a  recent  English  publication '  the  case  is  described  of  a  Avoman 
employed  since  marriage  in  making  capsules  colored  Avith  lead  colors. 
She  had  been  pregnant  eight  times,  the  children  had  all  been  born 
prematurely,  and  all  died  in  the  first  3Tar  of  life. 

A  French  authority,  Tardieu,*  reported  to  the  French  Government, 
in  1905,  that  608  out  of  1,000  pregnancies  in  lead  Avorkers  resulted  in 
premature  birth.  In  certain  Hungarian  villages,  Avhere  pottery 
glazing  has  been  a  home  industry  for  generations,  children  born  of 
lead-poisoned  parents  are  not  only  subject  to  convulsions,  but,  if  they 
live,  often  have  abnormally  large,  square  heads,  and  this  condition 
is  associated  with  a  loAvered  mentality.' 

It  is  unnecessary  to  emphasize  the  im]:)ortance  of  these  facts.  Every 
one  Avill  admit  that  a  poison  Avhich  may  destroy  or  cripple  a  Avoman's 
children  is  a  far  more  dangerous  poison  than  one  Avhich  only  injures 
the  Avoman  herself.  This  is  Avhy  it  is  necessary  to  fol-bid  the  entrance 
of  Avomen  into  the  more  dangerous  kinds  of  lead  Avork  and  to  sur- 
round their  employment  in  the  less  dangerous  ones  Avith  all  possible 
])recautions. 

»  Lpgge,  In  Journal  of  Ilvglonp,  vol.  1,  1901,  p.  0(5. 

» Oliver,  in  British  M.dical  .Tournal,  vol.  1,  lS>n,  p.  1006. 

•  Woinnns-  Industrial  Niws.     London.  July.  1018,  No.  81,  p.  11. 

*  Tardif'u  :   I'oisons   Iniliistrielles.      Paris,   1905. 

•Chyzer.     CLiiurgbcliu  I'reBse.     Ludapest,  vol.  44,  1908,  p.  906. 


WOMEN  IN   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  13 

LEAD  COMPOUNDS  USED  IN  INDUSTRY,  AND  THEIR 
COMPARATIVE   DANGER. 

Formerly  it  was  thought  that  the  more  soluble  a  lead  compound 
the  more  poisonous  it  is,  but  experience  shows  that  the  physical 
properties  of  a  lead  compound  are  also  important.  Of  two  com- 
pounds which  are  about  equally  soluble  in  human  gastric  juice,  the 
dustier  one  is  the  more  dangerous.  English  experts  believe  that  a 
less  soluble  lead  salt  may  be  actually  more  dangerous  than  one 
which  is  more  soluble,  but  less  easily  powdered.  For  instance,  lead 
ncetate  is  very  soluble,  but  it  has  a  disagreeable  taste,  so  that  the 
workman  can  not  swallow  it  unawares,  and  it  is  sticky,  not  powdery, 
so  that  in  handling  it  he  is  not  exposed  to  dust-laden  air.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  oxides,  the  basic  carbonate,  the  chromate,  sulphate, 
and  monosilicate  are  all  dusty  and  some  of  them  are  very  light  and 
fluffy.  They  are  also  almost  tasteless,  and  the  workman  who  handles 
them  dry  breathes  into  his  mouth  and  swallows  quantities  without 
noticing.  The  English  authorities,  Oliver,  Goadby,  and  Legge, 
regard  the  lead  salts  as  dangerous  in  proportion  to  their  dustiness. 
They  concentrate  their  efforts  on  the  abolition  of  dust  and  with 
amazing  practical  success. 

Probably  the  most  poisonous  lead  compound  used  in  industry  is 
the  suboxide  (PboO),  that  fine,  light-gray  powder  given  off  in  fumes 
from  heated  lead.  This  is  so  light  that  it  is  carried  into  the  air  by  the 
waves  of  heat,  and  so  finely  divided  that  it  is  easily  absorbed  when 
breathed  and  swallowed.  It  is  this  oxide  which  causes  poisoning  in 
lead  smelters,  zinc  smelters,  brass  molders,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  in 
workers  with  molten  lead  such  as  lead  molders,  lead  burners,  stereo- 
typers,  electrotypers,  and  those  employed  in  making  lead  pipe  and 
wire,  sheet  lead,  sliot,  and  the  makers  and  users  of  solder.  It  is  this 
same  oxide  that  forms  a  grayish  coating  on  solid  lead,  and  rubs  off 
on  the  hands.  Men  who  handle  solid  lead  sometimes  get  a  very 
slow  chronic  form  of  poisoning  from  this  oxide. 

It  is  a  question  whether  second  place  should  be  given  to  the 
higher  oxides  of  lead,  litharge  (PbO)  and  red  lead  (Pb304  or  Pb^Og), 
or  to  the  basic  carbonate,  white  lead.  The  last  named  is  decidedly 
more  soluble,  and  dose  for  dose  it  is  more  poisonous,  but  it  is  not  so 
light  and  fluffy  as  red  lead  and  litharge  and  it  seems  to  be  somewhat 
less  harmful.  In  those  American  factories  in  which  both  white  lead 
Hiid  oxides  are  manufactured,  the  rate  of  poisoning  in  1911  was 
higher  in  the  oxide  than  in  the  white-lead  department  and  the  aver- 
age period  of  employment  shorter.^  White  lead  is  much  the  best 
kn()^Yn  of  the  lead  salts,  and  probably  is  responsible  for  more  indus- 

'  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor.  Bui.  No.  95:  Wliitc-load  industry  in  the  United  Stntos,  by 
Alice  Hamilton,  M,   D.,  p.  259. 


14  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

trial  poisoning  than  the  oxidas,  because  it  is  used  in  great  quantities 
in  the  painting  trade  and  in  the  glazing  of  pottery,  and  its  manufac- 
ture has  always  been  considered  one  of  the  most  dangerous  lead 
trades;  i)aint  grinding,  unless  very  carefully  done,  is  also  a  dangerous 
trade.  The  oxides,  litharge,  and  red  lead  are  used  very  largely  in 
making  storage  batteries,  and  they  enter  into  the  composition  of  rub- 
ber, glass,  varnish,  certain  kinds  of  pottery  glaze,  the  enamel  used  on 
sanitary  ware,  and  the  paint  used  to  cover  iron  and  steel  on  bridges, 
ships,  structural-iron  work,  and  certain  parts  of  railway  cars. 

Lead  sulphate  is  beginning  to  displace  white  lead  to  a  certain 
extent  in  paints.  It  is  also  used  in  compounding  rubber,  and  is  pro- 
duced in  large  quantities  when  lead  ores  containing  sulphur  are 
smelted.  It  is  not  nearly  so  soluble  as  the  lead  compounds  already 
mentioneil,  but  it  is  poisonous  and  has  given  rise  to  a  good  many 
cases  of  plumbism  in  American  industry.  Lead  chromate  used  in 
paint  is  about  as  poisonous  as  tlie  sulphate.  The  least  harmful  lead 
compound  found  in  industry  is  the  sulphide,  which  makes  up  tho 
greater  part  of  the  lead  ore  now  being  mined.  This  was  long  con- 
sidered quite  harmless,  but  we  know  now  ^  that  it  can  be  absorbed 
by  the  human  stomach  and  set  up  poisoning. 

HOW  DOES  LEAD  ENTER  THE  BODY? 

The  popular  idea  about  lead  poisoning,  held  especially  by  foremen 
and  superintendents,  is  that  the  workman  poisons  himself  by  eating 
his  lunch  without  carefully  washing  his  hands.  There  is  not  spaco 
to  give  here  all  of  the  experiments  that  have  been  made  to  test  this 
theory,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  there  is  abundant  proof  that  lead  dust 
and  lead  fumes,  not  lack  of  personal  cleanliness,  are  responsible  for 
most  of  the  industrial  lead  poisoning  in  this  country,  as  in  all  co'un- 
tries.  If  a  man  employed  in  lead  smelting,  for  instance,  were  to  get 
into  his  mouth  ever}^  bit  of  the  soluble  lead  that  is  clinging  to  his 
hands  at  the  end  of  his  day's  work  he  would  not  get  so  much  lead  as 
he  breathes  in  during  two  hours'  exposure  to  the  dust  and  fumes  in 
the  air.- 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  an  absolute  rule  that  the  dustier  tho  work 
the  greater  will  be  the  amount  of  lead  poisoning.  In  the  })ottery 
trade  in  the  United  States  the  writer  found  one  case  of  lead  poison- 
ing for  every  seven  women  employed  in  lead  work,  while  in  the  Brit- 
ish potteries  the  proportion  of  cases  to  those  emploj'ed  was  only  1 
in  64.  The  American  women  were  scraping  and  brushing  drj'  white- 
lead  glaze,  and  letting  it  fly  about  in  the  air  and  fall  on  the  floor  and 
on  their  clothes  and  hair;  the  English  women  were  scraping  off  damp 

'  U.   S.  Bureau  of  Lnl)or  StatisUcs.  Bui.  Xo.   141  :   Loud  poisoning  in  the  siuclUrifj  and 
rcnnlng  of  IchI.  by  Alici"  Hamilton,  M.  I).,  pp.  S'2-84. 
*  Jdcin,   pp.   50-.';3. 


WOMEliT   IN    THE   LEAD   INDUSTRIES.  15 

glaze,  and  letting  it  fall  into  troughs  of  water.  In  tlie  smelting  in- 
dustry the  rate  of  poisoning  among  the  blast-furnace  men  exposed  to 
fumes  and  dust  was  found  to  be  31.1  per  cent,  and  among  the  men 
who  had  to  clean  out  the  flues  where  dust  is  excessive,  02.5  per  cent, 
while  the  refiners  and  desilverers  handling  pure  lead  but  not  exposed 
to  much  dust  or  fumes  had  a  rate  of  only  14.3  per  cent. 

The  lead  dust  and  fumes  (lead  fumes  consist  of  a  very  fine  suspen- 
sion of  lead  dust)  do  not  produce  their  effect  through  the  lungs,  for 
less  than  one-fourth  ever  reaches  the  lungs.  The  rest  is  caught  in 
the  nose  and  throat,  is  mixed  with  the  mucous  secretions,  and  is 
swallowed.^  Absorption  through  the  skin  may  be  practically  ignored 
in  considering  industrial  lead  poisoning.  In  England,  under  the 
leadership  of  Oliver,  Legge,  and  Goadby,  all  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Government  inspectors  are  directed  toward  the  prevention  of  dust 
and  fumes  and  provision  for  thorough  washing  before  meals  and  at 
the  end  of  work.  In  tl>e  summer  of  1910,  during  a  visit  to  three 
white-lead  factories  in  England,  the  writer  observed  men  smeared 
with  white  lead  up  to  their  shoulders,  but  these  men  were  made  to 
wash  thoroughly  at  noon  and  when  they  quit  work.  In  the  Avhole 
district  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where  1,320  men  were  employed,  there 
were  only  5  cases  of  lead  poisoning  during  that  year.  The  German 
regulations  of  the  lead  industries  are  also  based  on  the  theory  that 
lead  enters  the  body  by  way  of  the  mouth,  not  the  skin.  In  France, 
Gauthier  ^  reported  in  1901  that  "  while  out  of  1,000  white-lead 
workers  who  work  with  wet  white  lead,  50  have  had  lead  poisoning, 
of  1,000  who  handle  it  dry,  or  grind  dry  lead  in  oil,  105  have  had 
lead  poisoning. 

LEAD  INDUSTRIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

American  industry  differs  a  good  deal  from  industry  in  other 
countries,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  what  European  writers 
say  about  the  dangers  of  certain  kinds  of  work  is  true  of  the  same 
sort  of  v>ork  in  this  country.  What  follows  relates  closely  to  Amer- 
ican experience,  though  sources  of  information  are  scanty. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  list  of  all  the  occupations  in  the  United 
States  which  involve  exposure  to  lead  in  some  form.  Every  year 
cases  of  lead  poisoning  from  hitherto  unknown  sources  are  reported 
in  the  medical  journals.  Aside  from  the  well-known  lead  industries, 
there  are  certain  ones  which  are  not  ordinarily  thought  of  as  lead 
trades,  j^et  which  involve  quite  as  much  poisoning  as  do  the  more 
familiar  ones.  For  instance,  in  the  enameling  of  sanitary  ware  a 
very  high  rate  of  poisoning  Avas  found,  sometimes  even  30  per  cejit,  a 
Tate  hardly  equaled  in  any  other  industry.  Lithotransfer  work  is 
recognized  in  Europe  as  a  dangerous  lead  trade,  but  its  danger  is  so 

»  Saito.  in  Archiv  Mr  Hygiene.  J912,  vol.  75,  p.  134. 

2  Gauthier,  in  Breton's  Maladies  rrofessionelles.     Paris,  1911,  p.  154, 


16  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

little  known  in  this  country  that  cases  of  lead  poisoning  clue  to  it  are 
sometimes  not  recognized.  Of  five  girls  who  were  treated  in  a  public 
hospital  for  supposed  appendicitis  (two  of  them  even  were  operated 
on  because  of  this  mistaken  diagnosis)  all  had  been  poisoned  with  lead 
fi'om  the  colors  they  dusted  on  the  lithotransfer  paper.  Many  cases 
of  brass  poisoning  have  been  reported  which  proA'ed  on  investigaiion 
to  be  lead  poisoning.  Brass  contains  varying  quantities  of  lead,  and 
when  brass  is  poured  the  thick  white  fumes  which  rise  and  fill  the 
room  contain  lead  oxide.  A  few  instances  have  been  observed  of 
brass  polishers  becoming  poisoned  with  lead,  because  the  exhaust  on 
their  wdieels  did  not  carr}^  off  the  dust,  and  this  dust  contained  lead. 

Lead  colors  are  knoAvn  to  cause  poisoning  in  makers  and  handlers 
of  artificial  flowers  and  of  wall  pajDcrs.  Commercial  artists,  whose 
work  is  retouching  photographs  for  catalogues  and  advertisements, 
often  use  white  lead  paint,  frequently  in  the  form  of  a  very  fine 
spra}',  Avithout  knowing  that  it  is  poisonous.  They  also  have  a  habit 
of  bringing  their  brush  to  a  point  by  sucking  it.  Their  physicians 
do  not'know  that  they  have  been  exposed  to  lead  when  they  complain 
of  colic  or  weakness  of  the  wrists.  Fifteen  cases  of  lead  poisoning 
were  found  among  members  of  this  profession  in  Chicago,  one  of 
whom  had  died  palsied  after  having  had  three  abdominal  operations 
on  vai'ious  wrong  diagnoses. 

Another  source  of  lead  poisoning,  not  usuallj'^  recognized,  is.  the 
])o]ishing  of  cut  glass  with  so-called  putty  powder,  which  is  com- 
posed of  3  parts  oxide  of  lead  to  1  part  oxide  of  tin.  This  powder, 
made  into  a  paste,  is  applied  to  the  glass,  and  the  glass  is  held 
against  a  polishing  wheel,  so  that  the  thin  f)'tste  scatters  in  all 
directions  and  dries  and  forms  a  light  dust,  E.  E.  Pratt,^  of  the 
New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  found  many 
cases  of  lead  poisoning  from  the  use  of  lead  as  a  hardening  and  tem- 
jjering  agent,  especially  in  the  making  of  magnetos.  The  steel  mag- 
nets are  hardened  in  a  bath  of  molten  lead,  plunged  into  water  to 
cool,  and  then  rubbed  with  sandpaper  to  remove  the  lead.  A 
similar  process  is  used  in  the  making  of  ])iano  wires  and  springs. 
Piatt  also  found  lead  poisoning  in  linoleum  and  oilcloth  man- 
ufacture, for  litharge  is  used  in  compounding  and  the  paints  consist 
lai-gely  of  lead  colors. 

The  following  are  brief  descriptions  of  the  principal  lead  indus- 
tricB  as  they  are  carried  on  in  the  United  States,  together  with  stsite- 
ments  as  to  which  occupations  arc  speciallj'  hazardous  and  should 
not  be  given  to  women,  and  Avhich  may  be  rendered  safe  enough  to 
permit  of  women's  employment.  Only  the  danger  from  lead  is  dis- 
cussed in  what  follows.    No  attempt  is  made  to  pass  on  the  different 

'  Now  York  State  Factory  InvrstiRatliiK  rommlHslon  I'icllniinary  Report,  .Mbany,  1912, 
A'ol.   I,  r'p.  4Ii8-4:J0. 


WOMEN   IN   THE   LEAD  INDUSTKIES.  17 

occupations  as  far  as  muscular  effort  involved,  or  exposure  to  heat,  or 
other  harmful  features  are  concerned.  It  may  be  that  an  occupation 
free  from  the  danger  of  lead  poisoning  is  too  heavy  for  a  woman  to 
undertake,  or  that  for  some  other  reason  it  is  not  suitable  for  women. 
The  statement  that  "  a  woman  may  do  this  work  "  means  only  that 
she  ma}'  do  it  without  much  risk  of  lead  poisoning,  not  that  she  is 
strong  enough  to  do  it. 

LEAD    MIKING. 

Probably  lead  mining  is  the  least  important  of  the  lead  industries 
so  far  as  the  employment  of  women  is  concerned,  and  yet  it  is  possible 
that  women  may  find  employment  in  some  such  work  as  emptying  ore 
cars.  It  is  enough  to  say,  however,  that  there  is  little  danger  of  lead 
poisoning  here,  unless  the  mined  ore  is  so  handled  in  the  course  of 
concentrating  it  or  transporting  it  as  to  expose  the  workers  to  a  very 
great  deal  of  dust.  The  lead  ore  now  mined  is  chiefly  lead  sulphide, 
the  least  poisonous  compound  of  lead  found  in  industry,  and  though 
cases  of  lead  poisoning  have  been  found  among  miners  in-  the  Mis- 
souri lead  belt  ^  they  are  rare.  Western  ores  still  contain  some  oxides 
and  sulphate  and  carbonate,  all  of  them  more  soluble  than  the  sul- 
phide, and  western  miners  are  more  likely  to  have  lead  poisoning. 

The  danger  in  handling  lead  ores  can  be  prevented  by  sprinkling  to 
keep  down  the  dust. 

LEAD  SMELTING  AND  REFINING. 

Women  have  never  been  employed  in  lead  smelting  and  refinmg 
and  probably  never  will  be  employed  in  smelting;  but  it  is  not  so 
certain  that  they  may  not  be  employed  in  refineries  before  long. 

The  dangers  in  a  smelting  or  refining  plant  come  from  the  fumes 
and  dust,  and  in  most  plants  every  employee  is  more  or  less  exposed 
to  them,  though  in  a  clean,  well-managed  place  there  are  parts  which 
are  almost  free  from  danger.  As  a  rule,  a  refinery  is  worse  than  a 
smelter.  This  should  not  be  the  case,  for  the  smelting  of  ore  requires 
a  great  deal  more  heat  and  produces  far  more  fumes  than  does  the 
refining  of  bullion  and  scrap.  But  a  smelter  is  usually  a  large  plant, 
and  managed  with  a  good  deal  of  care,  while  a  refinery  is  often  in- 
significant in  size,  very  neglected  and  dirty,  and  carelessly  managed. 

In  handling  the  ores  as  they  reach  the  smelter,  dust  is  the  dan- 
ger, and  this  varies  according  to  the  dampness  of  the  ore,  and  its 
composition,  i.  e.,  whether  it  is  sulphide  or  mixed  compounds.  The 
ore  is  then  either  smelted  at  once  on  open  hearths  with  great  produc- 
tion of  poisonous  fumes,  or  it  is  first  jorepared  by  preroasting.  In 
preroasting,  in  roasting,  and  in  smelting  there  is  danger  from  dust 
while  the  charges  for  the  furnaces  are  being  prepared  and  while  the 

*  TJ.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bui.  No.  141 :  Lead  poisoning  in  tlie  smelting  and 
refining  of  load,  by  Alice  Hamilton,  M.  D.,  pp.  82-84. 

94261°— 19— Bull.  253 3 


18  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

furnaces  are  charged,  and  there  is  great  danger  from  fiunes  during 
roasting  and  smelting,  and  of  both  when  the  furnaces  are  emptied 
of  their  dusty  and  fuming  product.  In  the  later  processes  of  refin- 
ing the  danger  is  chiefly  from  fumes.  An  effort  is  made  to  save  the 
lead  that  passes  off  in  the  fumes  by  means  of  flues  and  bag  houses, 
where  the  fine  lead  powder  collects  and  has  to  be  cleaned  out  and 
transported  back  to  the  furnaces.  This  is  the  most  dangerous  kind 
of  work  in  the  industry. 

The  occupations  in  a  smelter  which  could  not  be  held  by  women 
•witliout  great  risk  are:  The  tending  and  discharging  of  the  Hunt- 
ington-Heberlein  pots;  the  tending  and  discharging  of  hand-rabbled 
reverberatory  furnaces;  the  tapping  of  blast  furnaces;  work  on  the 
Scotch  hearths  or  open  hearths ;  and  work  in  the  flues  and  bag  houses. 
Occupations  which  they  might  undertake,  if  conditions  were  made  as 
safe  as  they  have  been  in  the  best  plants,  are  the  following:  The 
handling  of  damp  ore;  the  feeding  of  blast  furnaces,  provided  the 
charges  are  damp,  the  feed  floor  is  open  and  clean,  the  charge  auto- 
matically dumped,  and  the  suction  into  the  furnace  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent any  escape  of  fumes ;  the  tending  of  the  sinter-roasting  machine 
(D wight-Lloyd),  provided  the  charge  is  damp,  the  suction  exhausts 
strong  enough  to  carry  off  the  fumes,  and  the  discharge  automatic 
and  not  productive  of  dust.  Grate  cleaning  for  the  Dwight-Lloyd 
machines,  however,  should  not  be  given  to  women. 

In  refining  there  are  several  processes  that  might  be  undertaken 
by  women  under  proper  conditions,  but  such  conditions  are  almost 
never  present  in  American  refineries.  Refineries  handle  not  only 
clean  lead  bullion,  but  usually  great  quantities  of  lead  scrap  of  all 
kinds,  dross,  dirty  white-lead  powder,  poorly  roasted  oxides,  old 
storage  batteries,  dusty  stuff  of  all  kinds,  which  is  bad  to  handle  and 
usually  fills  the  place  with  poisonous  dust.  This  is  why  a  refinery  is 
often  a  more  dangerous  place  to  work  in  than  a  good  smelter,  though 
it  need  not  be.  If,  however,  great  care  were  used  to  keep  the  place 
free  from  dust,  and  to  carry  off  fumes,  women  might  be  employed  in 
some  of  the  processes.  They  should  not  do  any  of  the  furnace  work 
nor  handle  the  dross.  Where  the  electrolytic  process  is  used  they 
might  be  employed  in  the  battery  room,  though  not  on  the  dross 
furnaces,  nor  in  handling  the  "  anode  mud,"  the  product  of  elec- 
trolysis. Desilverizing  may  be  so  carried  on  as  practically  to  be  free 
from  dust  or  fumes;  in  fact  it  is  probably  the  safest  work  in  the 
whole  industry,  and  women  might  be  employed  here.  By-product 
and  residue  furnaces  are  not  safe  for  women  to  work  at,  and  it  would 
be  even  less  advisable  to  employ  women  on  copper  converters.  On 
the  other  hand,  retorting,  and  cupeling  has,  in  one  American  plant 
at  least,  been  rendered  free  from  dust  and  fumes.  As  a  general  thing, 
however,  the  dangers  in  this  part  of  refining  are  fairly  great,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  plant  mentioned  none  have  been  observed 


WOMEN   IN   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  19 

in  which  women  could  be  properly  employed.     They  should  never  be 
put  to  breaking  up  the  cakes  of  litharge  from  the  cupels. 

In  considering  the  employment  of  women  in  smelting  and  refining 
lead  it  must  be  remembered  that  even  in  the  best  plants  accidents  may 
occur  which  suddenly  change  a  safe  place  into  a  very  dangerous  one. 
Flues  fail  to  work  and  gases  are  driven  back  into  the  plant,  the  fur- 
nace gets  out  of  order  and  not  only  do  fumes  escape  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  shut  down  and  clean  out  the  furnace,  causing  a  great  deal  of 
dangerous  dust.  Even  under  the  best  management  this  industry  can 
not  be  regarded  as  one  in  which  women  can  be  employed  without 
risk. 

TRADES  IN  WHICH  METALLIC  LEAD  IS  USED. 

Lead  in  its  metallic  form  is  not  absorbed  by  the  human  body,  but 
after  only  a  short  exposure  to  the  air  it  becomes  covered  with  a  coat- 
ing of  gray  oxide,  which  is  soluble  in  the  human  body.  Heat  greatly 
quickens  this  oxidizing  process,  and  molten  lead  always  has  a  more 
or  less  thick  covering  of  what  is  called  dross,  which  gives  off,  when  it 
is  stirred,  those  delicate  bluish-gray  clouds  that  are  quite  visible  if 
one  watches  the  stirring  or  ladling  or  skimming  of  a  lead  pot.  The 
lead  poisoning  that  takes  place  in  those  occupations  that  require  the 
handling  of  lead  in  solid  or  in  molten  form  is  usually  slow  and 
chronic,  and  often  the  symptoms  are  not  very  marked  or  typical. 
Very  rarely,  in  an  oversusceptible  person,  typical  acute  lead  poison- 
ing may  occur. 

The  dangers  in  connection  with  the  metallic-lead  trades  come  from 
the  presence  of  fine  lead  oxide  in  the  air  near  the  melting  pots  and 
of  dust  containing  lead,  which  rises  from  the  floor  and  workbenches 
and  contaminates  the  air,  and  also  from  the  grayish  oxide  which 
rubs  off  from  the  lead  onto  the  hand  and  may  reach  the  worker's 
mouth  if  he  handles  his  food  or  chewing  tobacco  without  washing  his 
hands.  It  is  almost  universally  believed  by  men  in  the  lead  indus- 
tries that  molten  lead  does  not  contaminate  the  air  unless  it  is  heated 
to  the  fuming  point,  and  that  therefore  there  is  no  need  of  having 
hoods  over  melting  pots  unless  the  heat  in  the  pot  is  at  least  800 ""  F. 
To  substantiate  this  theory  a  number  of  foreign  reports  could  be 
quoted,  for  seteral  lead  experts  in  Germany  and  Austria  have  col- 
lected the  air  over  melting  pots  and  have  failed  to  show  the  presence 
of  lead  even  at  a  temperature  of  1,000°  F.^  This  is  true,  however, 
only  when  the  molten  lead  is  left  quite  undisturbed.  If  it  is  skimmed 
or  stirred  or  ladled  out  and  poured  into  molds,  the  fine  coating  of 
oxide  is  detached  and  floats  up  into  the  air  on  the  currents  of  heat, 
and  its  presence  can  be  shown  by  chemical  tests.  Experiments  prov- 
ing this  were  carried  on  by  Dr.  Earle  D,  Phelps,  of  the  Hygienic 

*  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bui.  No.  209  :  Hygiene  of  the  printing  trades,  by  Alice 
Hamilton,  M.  D.,  and  Charles  H.  Verrill,  pp.  21-26. 


20  BULLETIN   OF  THE   BUREAU  OF   LABOE   STATISTICS. 

Laboratory  of  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service,^  and  he 
was  able  to  prove  that  if  lead  is  heated  to  590°  F.  lead  fumes  are 
given  off  when  the  melting  pot  is  agitated  in  any  way.  These  experi- 
ments justify  the  rulings  made  by  the  British  factory  inspection 
service  and  by  some  State  labor  departments,  which  require  that  all 
receptacles  of  molten  lead  be  covered  with  a  hood  having  a  suction 
pipe  to  carry  off  the  lead  in  the  fumes. 

Dross  from  the  lead  pot  is  skimmed  off  and  thrown  usually  on  the 
floor,  though  sometimes  iiito  a  receptacle,  but  even  in  the  latter  case  a 
good  deal  of  it  often  splashes  on  the  floor.  Here  it  is  ground  up  by 
the  feet  of  the  workmen  passing  to  and  fro,  and  every  draft  of  air 
lifts  a  little  of  it  and  blows  it  about,  so  that  if  dust  is  gathered 
from  surfaces  where  no  lead  has  been  handled  this  dust  may  be  found 
to  contain  an  appreciable  quantity  of  lead.  For  instance,  lead  can 
be  found  in  the  dust  from  the  tops  of  cabinets  in  printing  shops,  or 
from  the  surface  of  the  magazine  of  a  linotype  machine,  or  from  the 
tops  of  flue  pipes  in  type  foundries.  Another  source  of  lead  dust 
is  lead  scrap  and  trimmings,  which  are  allowed  to  fall  on  the  floor, 
and  which  the  workmen  tread  on  and  grind  into  dust.  While  there  is 
probably  never  a  large  quantity  of  lead  in  the  air  of  such  workshops, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  lead  is  a  cumulative  poison  and  that  very 
minute  doses  repeated  day  after  day  may  result  in  a  quantity  suffi- 
cient to  cause  quite  as  serious  symptoms  as  would  larger  doses  given 
at  intervals. 

There  are  so  many  industries  in  which  metallic  lead  is  used  that  it 
is  impossible  to  give  a  list  even  approximately  complete.  The  follow- 
ing are  occupations  in  which  iihliistrial  lead  poisoning  has  been 
known  to  occur  in  the  United  States,  sometimes  in  quite  serious  form : 

Lead  burning. 

The  making  of  solder  and  Babbitt. 

Soldering. 

The  making  of  lead  pipe,  sheet,  wire,  machine  parts,  plumbers'  goods. 

Lead  tempering  of  machine  parts. 

The  making  and  laying  of  electric  cables. 

The  making  of  leaden  trimmings  for  cofRns. 

The  making  of  leaden  picture  frames. 

The  polishing  of  diamonds  embedded  In  a  lump  of  lead. 

The  making  of  tin  foil,  which  is  really  extremely  thin  sheet  lead. 

The  using  of  tin  foil  as  wrapping. 

The  making  of  car  seals  and  can  seals. 

Brass  founding. 

Brass  and  nickel  buffing. 

Tinsmithing. 

Plumbers'  trade.  (This  is  increasingly  a  brass  industry,  bnt  lead  is  still 
usp(l  and  lead  poisoning  still  occurs  among  plumbers.  Nineteen  out  of  500 
eases  of  lead  poisoning  in  Illinois  were  In  plumbers.) 

1  Burean  of  Labor  StatiatlcB,  Bui.  No.  209:  H.VRiene  of  the  printing  trades,  by  Alice 
Hamilton,  M.  D.,  and  Charles  H.  Verrill,  pp.  21-26. 


WOMEN"  IN   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  21 

The  use  of  solder  and  Babbitt  is  productive  of  much  more  lead 
poisoning  than  would  be  expected  from  the  nature  of  the  work.  The 
Illinois  factory  inspectors'  report  for  the  year  1913-14  gives  the 
record  of  184  cases  of  lead  poisoning  from  four  establishments 
in  which  tin  cans  were  soldered.  In  one  crowded  workroom,  with 
12  soldering  machines,  100  persons  were  employed,  and  here  18  cases 
of  lead  poisoning  developed  during  one  winter  mouth,  when  the 
windows  were  closed.  Another  industry  in  Illinois — the  making  of 
car  seals  and  bearings — has  a  disproportionate  amount  of  lead  poison- 
ing. There  were  28  cases  of  lead  poisoning  in  one  year  among 
an  average  force  of  188  employees.  Both  these  industries  employ 
women  chiefly,  and  many  of  these  women  are  under  21  years  of  age. 
The  percentage  of  cases  is  far  beyond  that  reported  by  the  notori- 
ously dangerous  lead  trades  in  Illinois. 

A  few  instances  may  be  given  of  serious  lead  poisoning  in  occupa- 
tions that  are  not  usually  considered  by  employers  as  involving  any 
particular  danger,  but  in  which  metallic  lead  is  used.  For  instance,  a 
man  was  treated  in  a  Chicago  hospital  for  lead  poisoning  who  had 
for  two  months  been  employed  in  sweeping  up  the  shavings  from 
casting  and  finishing  machines  in  a  factory  making  lead  fixtures. 
Another  man  sickened  after  four  weeks'  work.  He  had  been  gather- 
ing up  and  wheeling  away  dross  from  melting  pots.  In  a  Philadel- 
phia hospital  a  man  was  treated  for  acute  lead  poisoning  who  had 
worked  for  only  three  weeks,  making  lead  stoppers  and  perforated 
filters  for  washbasins.  Again,  in  the  same  Chicago  hospital,  there 
were  treated  for  lead  poisoning  a  man  who  had  handled  lead,  copper, 
and  brass  junk  in  a  refinery;  another  who  had  lifted  pig  lead  in  a 
shipping  room ;  a  lead  filer ;  a  brass  filer ;  and  a  lather  and  shingler 
who  had  the  habit  of  holding  lead-covered  nails  in  his  mouth. 

Lead  burning  is  a  notoriously  dangerous  trade.  Skilled  lead 
burners  almost  never  escape  the  effect  of  the  lead  fumes  given  off 
when  they  apply  a  hot  flame  to  melt  together  the  seams  of  the  lead 
lining  in  tanks  or  other  receptacles.  The  lead  burner  is  obliged  to 
hold  his  head  close  to  his  work  and  to  climb  into  the  tank  he  is 
lining,  or  to  put  his  head  into  the  receptacle  if  it  is  too  small  for  him 
to  enter.  This  is  the  work  generally  understood  when  the  term  lead 
burning  is  used,  namely,  making  lead  linings  for  receptacles  which 
are  to  contain  corrosive  substances.  But  there  are  other  forms  of 
lead  burning  that  do  not  require  so  much  skill  and  are  not  nearly  so 
dangerous.  The  burning  of  lead  connectors  in  storage-battery  manu- 
facture is  a  typical  example.  Here  the  worker  uses  a  tiny  flame  and 
lets  it  play  over  the  pure  lead  that  is  used  to  connect  the  battery 
plates.  A  certain  amount  of  lead  fume  is  given  off  in  the  course  of 
this  work,*  but  the  amount  is  not  large  and,  with  abundant  ventila- 

*  See  section  on  storage-battery  manufacture,  pp.  32-35. 


22  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 

tion.  it  can  be  diluted  to  a  point  of  safety  for  all  but  those  very- 
susceptible  to  lead. 

THE  PRINTING  TEADES. 

Probably  the  most  important  of  the  industries  using  metallic  lead 
is  the  printing  industry,  including  the  allied  branches  of  linotype 
casting,  monotype  casting,  stereotyping,  electrotyping,  and  ordinary 
tvpe  founding.  In  all  countries  the  printers'  trade  has  long  been  con- 
sidered as  productive  of  more  illness  than  would  be  expected  in  an 
industry  in  which  wages  are  high,  hours  usually  not  long,  and  in 
which  there  is  no  great  contamination  of  the  air,  nor  exposure  to 
excessive  heat  or  cold,  nor  excessive  muscular  effort. 

The  unhealthful  features  of  the  industry  are  the  following:  It  is 
an 'indoor  occupation,  often  carried  on  in  vitiated  air;  it  does  not  re- 
quire much  physical  exertion,  and  in  consequence  the  printer's  circu- 
lation is  likely  to  be  sluggish,  and  he  is  oversensitive  to  cold;  the 
nervous  strain  is  great ;  the  printer  exposed  to  the  effects  of  various 
poisonous  substances,  the  most  important  of  which  is  lead.  How  im- 
portant lead  is  as  a  factor  in  the  ill  health  of  printers  can  not  be 
stated  with  any  positiveness.  Yet  the  evidence  gathered  from  all 
civilized  countries  and  extending  over  a  number  of  years  tends  to 
show  that  it  is  important  as  a  cause  of  sickness.  An  examination  of 
200  working  printers  in  Boston  and  Chicago  showed  that  18,  or  9 
per  eent,  were  suffering  from  chronic  lead  poisoning;  107  of  the  200 
had  symptoms  of  ill  health. 

Lead  poisoning  may  be  acquired  by  printers  if  they  handle  food 
or  tobacco  with  hands  which  have  become  smeared  with  lead,  or  if 
they  breathe  lead  dust  and  fumes.  The  sources  of  lead  dust  are :  In 
the  composing  room,  the  dust  from  type  cases;  in  the  linotype  room, 
the  scraps  of  lead  from  the  machine  which  fall  on  the  floor  and  are 
gi'ound  up  by  the  feet  of  passers-by,  and  the  dust  from  cleaning  the 
linotype  machines  and  plungers;  in  stereotyping  and  electrotyping, 
the  scraps  from  trimmers,  routers,  and  saws,  and  the  dross  from  the 
kettles.  In  addition,  most  shops  melt  and  recast  their  old  type  and 
scrap,  and  this  is  another  source  of  lead  dust. 

''J'he  sources  of  lead  fumes  are:  All  pots  of  molten  metal,  if  the 
metal  is  agitated  by  stirring  or  by  skimming  off  dross,  or  by  ladling 
and  pouring.  In  stereotyping,  electrotyping,  and  remelting  and 
casting  type  there  is  enough  agitation  of  the  molten  lead  to  cause 
lead  contamination  of  the  surrounding  air,  but  in  linotype  and  mono- 
type work  the  metal  in  the  pot  is  hardly  disturbed  at  all,  and  re- 
peated tests  made  of  the  air  over  these  machines  shows  that  lead 
fumes  are  not  given  off.^  This  does  not  mean  that  linotypists  may 
no(   suffer  from  a  slowly  developing  chronic  lead  poisoning.     But 

i  T'.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bui.  No.  209 :  Hygiene  of  the  printing  trade,  by  Alice 
HaniiltoD.  ^f.  D.,  and  Charles  H.  Verrill.  p.  ?<7. 


WOMEN-   IN-   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  23 

this  is  a  result  of  lead  dust,  or  of  fumes  coming  from  pots  in  the 
linotype  room  "where  scrap  is  melted.  If  the  linotype  composing 
room  were  kept  clean  and  no  -work  were  carried  on  there  except  hand 
composition  and  machine  composition,  there  would  be  no  risk  of 
lead  poisoning  except  from  the  cleaning  of  machines  and  plungers. 

Linotype  casting. — Linotypists  insist  that  unless  the  fumes  from 
the  pots  are  carried  off  they  suffer  from  symptoms  of  ill  health,  and 
that  in  shops  where  exhausts  have  been  installed  the  failure  of  the 
air  current  to  work  for  a  single  day  will  be  enough  to  bring  on  head- 
ache, lassitude,  dullness,  and  inability  to  work  at  the  usual  speed; 
but  the  fumes  of  lead  in  as  small  quantities  as  those  given  off  from 
molten  lead  never  produce  symptoms  quickly,  their  effect  being  very 
slow  and  subtle.  What  the  linotypist  complains  of  is  really  the  con- 
tamination of  the  air  by  carbon  monoxide  from  the  naked  gas 
burners  under  the  melting  pots,  and  there  should  always  be  a  fume 
pipe  with  an  exhaust  over  such  a  burner.  It  is  probably  unnecessary 
to  install  exhausts  over  type-metal  pots  in  which  the  melting  is  dona 
by  electric  current. 

Hand  composition. — In  the  composing  room  there  should  be  very 
little  risk  of  lead  poisoning.  The  danger  in  the  work  of  the  type- 
setter should  be  limited  to  the  handling  of  lead  type.  That  risk  is 
inherent  in  the  trade,  and  can  not  be  done  away  with.  If  it  were 
the  only  risk,  it  would  be  possible  to  protect  the  compositor  fully 
from  all  danger  of  slow  chronic  lead  absorption  simply  by  providing 
him  with  ample  washing  facilities.  Then,  if  he  did  get  lead  poison- 
ing, it  could  be  assumed  that  he  was  eating  his  lunch  or  handling  his 
chewing  tobacco  without  washing  his  hands.  But  the  case  is  in 
actual  practice  not  nearly  so  simple  as  that.  A  typesetter  may  be  a 
man  of  scrupulously  cleanly  habits,  and  yet  he  may  get  lead  poison- 
ing because  there  is  lead  dust  in  the  room  where  he  works,  or  because 
he  has  to  blow  the  dust  out  of  old  type  cases,  or  work  near  a  melting 
pot  or  near  a  pile  of  lead  skimmings  blown  about  by  drafts  of  air. 

Monotype  casting. — ^Like  linotype  casting,  monotype  casting  does 
not  result  in  lead  fumes  except  when  the  dross  is  skimmed  off.  but 
gas  is  almost  always  used  for  heating  and  all  that  has  just  been  said 
in  the  section  on  linotype  work  about  the  evils  of  gas  fumes  and  the 
need  of  carrying  them  away  applies  to  monotype  casting  machines. 
Monotype  machines  drop  lead  scrap  continually  on  the  floor,  but  as 
a  usual  thing  casting  is  carried  on  in  a  separate  room,  and  the  lead 
scrap  is  not  scattered  beyond  this  room.  As  a  rule,  also,  the  mono- 
type casting  room  is  well  placed  and  well  ventilated.  Indeed  this 
department  seems  to  be  planned  and  managed  better  than  any  other 
in  job  printing  and  newspaper  work. 

Stereotyping. — ^The  reverse  is  the  rule  in  stereotyping,  for  this 
department  is  likely  to  be  the  worst  housed  and  the  worst  tended  of 


24  BULLETIN   OF  THE   BUREAU  OF   LABOB   STATISTICS. 

any  in  the  printing  shop.  The  evils  in  stereotyping  are  the  very 
disagreeable  and  indeed  harmfnl  fumes  given  off  when  old  plates 
are  being  melted  down  or  "  burned  off,"  fumes  which  come  from  the 
ink  and  contain  acrolein,  an  irritating  poison;  the  lead  oxide  which 
experiments  have  shown  to  be  given  off  at  the  temperatures  often 
used  in  stereotyping;  the  dust  caused  by  trimming  and  routing  the 
plates;  and  the  heat  from  the  kettles.  All  these  evils  are  avoidable, 
and  all  have  been  avoided  to  a  large  extent  in  a  few  model  plants. 
This  has  been  done  by  placing  hoods  with  strong  exhausts  so  that 
they  will  carry  off  not  only  the  disagreeable  fumes  at  the  beginning 
of  the  process,  but  the  more  dangerous  though  less  noticeable  lead 
fumes  that  come  off  later  on,  or  by  placing  a  powerful  fan  in  an  outer 
wall  of  the  room.  Dust  is  prevented  by  careful  gathering  up  of  the 
scrap  and  trimmings,  and  by  throwing  dross  into  a  receptacle  instead 
of  on  the  floor. 

Electrotyping. — The  important  features  in  this  work  are  the  pot 
in  which  the  lead  is  heated  for  the  backing  of  plates,  the  hot  pans  on 
which  the  molten  lead  is  poured,  the  trimming  and  routing  of  tlie 
plates,  and  the  sawing  and  beveling.  As  in  other  departments  in  a 
printing  shop,  old  plates  have  to  be  remelted  and  the  metal  used 
again.  When  these  ink-covered  plates  are  melted  down,  the  same 
sort  of  gases  are  given  off  as  in  melting  stereotype  plates.  The 
lead  in  the  melting  pots  in  an  electrotype  foundry  is  often  allowed  to 
run  up  to  a  higher  temperature  than  is  necessary,  because  it  is  easy 
to  "cool  it  down  to  just  the  right  temperature  m  the  backing  pans. 
Experiments  show  that  lead  fumes  are  given  off  at  these  higher  tem- 
peratures when  the  lead  is  agitated,  and,  therefore,  to  make  electro- 
typing  safe  some  method  for  carrjnng  off  these  fumes  is  necessary. 
An  electrotype  foundry  can  be  made  free  from  lead  fumes,  and  the 
lead  scrap  can  be  so  carefully  handled  that  lead  dust  will  be  but  a 
sliglit  danger.  In  the  majority  of  electrotype  foundries  little  or  no 
attention  is  given  to  carrying  off  the  poisonous  fumes.  A  disagree- 
able feature  of  the  work  is  the  use  of  black  lead,  which  is  very  light 
and  flies  about,  darkening  walls  and  ceilings  and  settling  on  the 
windows.  Other  disagreeable  features  are  the  heat,  and  the  blast  of 
steam  that  in  some  places  is  used  to  clean  plates. 

There  is  an  increasing  tendency,  now  that  the  price  of  lead  has 
risen  so  high,  for  newspaper  plants  and  large  job  houses  to  refine  the 
dioss  skimmed  off  the  molting  pots  instead  of  selling  it  to  junk 
dealers.  Sometimes  they  simply  remelt  it,  recover  a  small  part  of 
tlie  lead,  and  sell  the  rest,  but  in  some  plants  a  cupeling  furnace  is 
installed  and  the  dross  is  actually  smelted.  This  is  work  attended 
with  all  the  dangers  described  under  lead  smelting,  and  it  should  be 
safeguarded  by  the  methods  described  there.  It  should  always  be 
done  quite  apart  from  any  other  work. 


WOMEN   IN-   THE   LEAD  INDUSTRIES.  25 

Women  In  the  Printing  Trades. 

Women  found  their  way  long  ago  into  the  printing  trades,  though 
not  into  monotype  casting,  stereotyping,  or  electrotj^ping,  nor  are 
they  as  yet  employed  in  large  numbers  in  any  branch  of  actual 
printing.  They  are  accepted  as  members  of  the  typographical  union 
on  exactly  the  same  terms  as  men,  and  must  go  through  the  same 
apprenticeship,  and,  after  becoming  journeymen,  they  have  the  same 
hours  and  receive  the  same  pay  as  men.  Thej^  are  found  in  large 
numbers  as  proof  readers,  and  are  usually  the  operators  on  the  mono- 
type keyboards,  but  do  not  work  in  the  monotype  casting  room.  In 
nonunion  shops  they  are  press  feeders,  sometimes  doing  all  of  that 
work.  As  compositors  and  linotypists  they  are  not  numerous.  In 
the  course  of  an  investigation  made  in  1916  of  the  printing  industry 
in  seven  American  cities,  only  14  woman  linotypists  Avere  found  out 
of  a  total  of  about  1,632  operators,  and  only  103  hand  compositors 
out  of  a  total  of  about  3,800. 

As  is  true  of  so  many  of  the  skilled  trades,  a  wide  difference  of. 
opinion  exists  concerning  the  entrance  of  women  into  the  printing 
trades.  This  difference  was  brought  out  clearly  at  the  meeting  of 
the  International  Association  for  Labor  Legislation  in  Lugano,  in 
1910,  and  at  the  following  meeting  in  Zurich,  in  1912.  The  Italian 
delegates  took  the  stand  that,  for  the  good  of  the  race,  women  must 
not  be  allowed  to  work  in  this  industry,  since  the  danger  of  lead 
poisoning  is  too  great;  they  admitted,  however,  that  they  had  no  evi- 
dence of  an  undue  amount  of  lead  poisoning  among  the  few  women 
employed  in  Italy.  The  Austrians  also  were  in  favor  of  forbidding 
women  to  work  at  any  occupation  in  printing  in  which  contact  with 
lead  is  involved,  and  the  regulations  now  in  force  in  Austria  contain 
this  provision.  The  British  delegates,  on  the  other  hand,  main- 
tained that  it  was  entirely  possible  to  do  away  with  the  danger  of 
lead  poisoning  in  the  printing  trade,  and  that  efforts  should  be  di- 
rected toward  making  the  industry  healthful  for  both  men  and 
Avomen,  rather  than  toward  shutting  women  out  from  occupations  in 
wdiich  they  had  long  been  employed,  and  Avhich  were  in  many  ways 
suited  to  their  powers.  The  French  and  the  American  delegates 
stood  Avith  the  British. 

The  typographical  industry  is  not  the  only  one  in  Avhich  efforts 
have  been  made  to  prohibit  the  entrance  of  Avomen  on  very  insuffi- 
cient grounds.  The  danger  to  health  in  this  industry  is  avoidable, 
and  the  logical  thing  to  do  is  to  institute  such  sanitary  measures  in 
printing  shops  as  Avill  make  them  safe  for  both  sexes.  The  Austrian 
statistics  of  lead  poisoning  in  woman  printers,  on  which  so  much 
stress  has  been  laid,  depend  on  the  fact  that  Austrian  Avomen  used  to 
be  employed  in  the  type  foundries,  finishing  type  by  hand,  and  this 
work  is  dangerous  for  men  as  Avell  as  Avomen,  and  should  be  replaced 


26  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

bv  uiiichiner}'.  Machine  composition,  hand  composition,  monotype 
casting,  and  electrotyping  can  be  carried  on,  and  in  the  best  shops 
are  carried  on,  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce  the  danger  of  lead  poison- 
ing to  a  minimum.  In  stereotyping  this  would  be  more  difficult, 
but  the  greater  physical  strength  needed  by  the  stereotj-per  makes 
it  highly  improbable  that  this  occupation  will  ever  be  given  to  women. 

TYPE  FOUNDING. 

Type  founding  is  closely  connected  with  the  printing  trade,  and 
indeed  a  fcAv  newspaper  offices  have  their  own  type-founding  ma- 
chines in  addition  to  the  monotype  and  linotype  machines.  As  a 
usual  thing,  however,  typo  founding  is  a  separate  business  in  the 
United  States,  though  in  Europe  it  is  often  carried  on  in  connection 
with  printing. 

Statistics  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  printing  trades  in  Europe  al- 
ways show  a  high  percentage  anu^ug  the  Avomen  employed  in  type 
founding.  In  Austria  the  woman  foundry  helpers  have  much  the 
highest  rate  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  whole  industry,  1  case  out  of  9 
women  employed,  while  the  compositors  have  only  1  out  of  35 
emplo3''ed.  In  Germany  five  times  as  many  founders  as  compositors 
have  lead  poisoning.  In  this  country  the  only  cases  reported  of  lead 
jooisoning  among  women  engaged  in  the  printing  and  allied  trades 
have  been  among  type-foundry  employees.  The  danger  of  work  in  a 
type  foundry  is  ver}'  much  like  that  in  stereotyping,  except  that 
there  is  far  more  fine  lead  dust.  The  heat  in  the  castei*s  often  runs 
u})  to  the  point  at  which  lead  oxide  is  given  off,  and  it  is  not  cus- 
tomar}'  to  place  hoods  over  the  molten  lead.  The  evil  of  gas  fumes 
is  the  same  as  that  described  under  linotype  work.  But  the  worst 
feature  in  the  type  foundry  is  the  lead  dust  from  Hie  hand  finishing 
of  type.  The  type  cast  by  the  older  kind  of  machine,  the  Bruce 
niacliine,  has  to  go  through  various  processes  of 'filing,  "dressing," 
or  grooving,  and  "  kerning,"  or  smoothing,  and  inspecting,  assort- 
ing, and  i)acking.  This  is  fine  work  and  all  of  it  is  productive  of 
dust.  The  Avoman  finishers  sit  bent  over  their  benches,  with  their 
heads  close  to  their  machines  or  tools.  They  use  pads  of  plush  to 
hold  the  type,  and  these  get  full  of  lead  dust  and  are  shaken  and 
bealen  clean  from  time  to  time,  and  the  fine  gray  powder  that  col- 
lects on  the  benches  is  brushed  oif.  This  finishing  work  is  often 
carrioil  on  in  the  same  room  with  the  casting  machines,  with  their 
gas  fumes  and  possibly  lead  fumes. 

So  long  as  casting  machines  of  the  old  pattern  are  used  and  hand 
finisliing  has  to  be  done,  tyj^c  founding  will  be  the  worst  branch  of 
the  piinting  trade.  The  newer  make  of  caster,  known  as  the  Barth 
machine,  casts  type  which  is  already  finished,  and  needs  no  further 
handling. 


WOMEIT   I5T   THE   LEAD   INDUSTRIES.  27 

SUMMARY  OF  THE  METALLIC-LEAD  INDUSTRIES. 

To  sum  up  the  features  which  are  common  to  all  the  trades  in 
which  lead  in  metallic  form  is  used:  The  form-of  poisoning  found 
in  these  occupations  is  slow  and  insidious  and  sometimes  shows  its(>lf 
only  in  an  increased  tuberculosis  rate,  because  the  resistance  of  rho 
bod}'  to  infection  has  been  lowered  by  mild  chronic  lead  poisonir)£r. 
Tlie  dangerous  feature  is  lead  oxide  in  tlie  form  of  fine  dust,  which 
rises  from  the  surface  of  molten  lead  and  is  rubbed  off  from  the 
surface  of  solid  lead.  It  is  perfectly  possible  to  prevent  all,  or 
almost  all,  air  contamination  by  this  oxide  dust.  When  it  can  not 
be  entirely  prevented  the  proportion  in  the  air  can  be  reduced  to 
the  margin  of  safety  for  all  but  the  oversusceptible  by  ample  ven- 
tilation. The  employment  of  women  in  these  industries  can  be  per- 
mitted, because  there  is  no  reason  whj^  the  risk  of  lead  poisoning  in 
working  with  lead   metal   should  not   be   reduced  to   a   minimum. 

MANUFACTURE   OF  WHITE  LEAD. 

This  is  probably  the  most  notoriously  dangerous  of  the  lead  indus- 
tries, the  one  that  has  attracted  more  attention  than  any  other,  in 
European  countries,  and  that  has  led  to  special  legislation  for  the 
protection  of  the  men  and  women  engaged  in  it.  It  can  not  be  as- 
sumed that  the  description  of  the  white-lead  industry  in  Great 
Britain  or  France  or  Germany  applies  to  conditions  in  America, 
because  our  methods  of  manufacture  differ  in  several  important  re- 
spects from  theirs.  On  the  one  hand,  we  use  a  dry  method  where 
they  use  water,  and  this  means  more  danger  from  dust  in  our  plants ; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  developed  machinery  to  a  far  higher 
point  than  they  have,  thus  doing  away  w4th  hand  work  and  reduc- 
ing the  number  of  employees  required. 

Old  Dutch  'proce'iS.- — The  Old  Dutch  process  is  still  the  one  most 
commonly  used  in  the  United  States.  The  lead  is  cast  in  thin  disks 
or  "  buckles."  Women  may  properly  work  at  casting  provided  only 
clean  lead  is  used,  not  scrap  wath  white-lead  dust  clinging  to  it,  and 
provided  the  precautions  described  in  the  last  section  are  observed. 
These  buckles  are  packed  in  pots  with  acetic  acid  and  stacked  in 
layers  in  old  tan  bark  where  they  are  left  for  about  100  days  to 
"  corrode  "  or  change  from  the  metallic  form  into  the  basic  carbonate, 
white  lead.  This  work  is  known  as  "  stack  setting  "  or  "  setting  the 
blue  beds,"  and  the  English  law  allows  women  to  do  it.  So  long  as 
only  clean  blue  buckles  are  used  for  the  blue  beds  there  seems  no 
reason  why  women  should  not  do  the  work.  Unfortunately  in  some 
of  our  plants  it  is  the  custom  to  mix  with  this  blue  lead  parts  of 
buckles  which  have  been  imperfectly  corroded  and  which  are  more 
or  less  covered  with  white  lead.  When  this  is  done,  the  character  of 
the  work  is  quite  different,  for  the  stack  setters  then  are  handling  not 


28    •  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

only  elesm  metallic  lead,  but  white  lead,  which  is  often  dusty.  Wo- 
men should  not  be  allowed  to  work  in  the  blue  beds  when  old  buckles 
are  used. 

When  corrosion  is  complete  the  tan  bark  has  to  be  taken  off,  and 
the  pots  lifted  and  emptied.  In  England  and  Germany  the  white 
lead  must  be  sprinkled  with  water  before  emptying  to  keep  down 
the  dust,  yet  even  so  the  English  law  forbids  the  employment  of 
women  in  "stack  stripping"  or  "stripping  the  v.hite  beds,"  as  this 
work  is  called.  In  our  factories  we  can  not  sprinkle  the  white  lead, 
because  the  corroded  buckles  must  go  through  a  series  of  grinders 
and  screens  to  separate  the  white  lead  from  the  unchanged  metal  in 
the  center  of  the  buckle,  and  dampness  would  result  in  clogging  the 
screens.  Great  improvements  have  been  made  of  late  years  to  do 
away  with  the  dust  in  American  stack  stripping,  but  in  spite  of  that 
the  work  is  dangerous,  and  does  not  admit  of  the  employment  of 
women. 

Dry-paii  room. — The  second  danger  point  in  white-lead  manufac- 
ture is  the  dry-pan  room,  where  the  white  lead,  after  repeated 
washings,  is  pumped  into  great  hot  pans,  and  left  to  dry  for  many 
hours,  then  conveyed  by  various  methods  to  the  barrel  packing  ma- 
chines, or  to  the  place  where  it  is  to  be  ground  in  oil.  In  some  fac- 
tories the  white  lead,  still  suspended  in  water,  is  ground  as  "  pulp 
lead,"  the  oil  displacing  the  water  graduallj^  and  no  drying  process 
being  needed.  Work  in  the  dry-pan  rooms  has  been  very  much  im- 
proved of  late  years  in  the  best  factories.  Where  formerly  the  dry 
white  lead  was  shoveled  out  and  dropped  into  trucks,  it  is  now  drawn 
to  the  edge  of  the  pan  by  a  long-handled  hoe,  and  falls  into  a  con- 
veyer which  carries  it  to  the  barrel  packer  or  to  the  place  where  it 
is  to  be  mixed  with  oil.  Both  pans  and  conveyers  are  covered  except 
for  a  small  opening  during  the  time  that  emptying  takes  place,  and 
imder  this  cover  is  an  exhaust  which  prevents  the  dust  from 
escaping. 

In  spite  of  these  improvements,  however,  nobody  would  advise  the 
emploj'ment  of  women  in  the  drj'-pan  room  of  a  white-lead  factory, 
nor  in  the  two  following  processes:  Packing  the  dry  white  lead, 
which,  no  matter  how  carefully  done,  is  inevitably  dusty  work,  and 
giinding  white  lead  in  oil.  The  department  in  which  they  may  be 
employed,  provided  conditions  are  as  they  should  be,  is  the  final 
filling  of  small  kegs  or  pails  Avith  lead  and  oil.  If  women  are  to  be 
allowed  to  do  this,  however,  the  work  must  not  be  carried  on  in  the 
same  room  with  the  grinding  of  dry  lead,  nor  with  barrel  packing, 
nor  must  any  other  source  of  white-lead  dust  be  permitted  there. 
Tlie  record  was  obtained  of  a  young  girl  who  contracted  lejtd  poison- 
ing doing  this  very  work,  and  it  was  assumed  that  she  had  absorbed 
the  lead  i)aint  through  her  hands.  But  when  closer  inquiry  was  made 
it  was  discovered  that  she  was  working  near  the  door  of  the  grinding 
room,  and  she  said  that  \(iy  often  clouds  of  white  dust  would  come 


WOMEN   IN    THE    LEAD   INDUSTRIES.  29 

blowing  in  through  that  door.  Her  poisoning  is  attributed  to  the 
inhaling  of  dust,  not  to  the  absorption  through  the  skin. 

Carter  procesa. — Another  process  for  corroding  lead  is  gaining 
ground  in  the  United  States.  This  is  the  so-called  Carter  process, 
based  on  the  same  principle  as  the  Old  Dutch  process,  but  bringing 
about  corrosion  in  two  weeks'  time,  w^hile  the  Old  Dutch  process 
takes  about  100  days.  This  rapid  corrosion  is  effected  by  atomizing 
melted  lead  in  a  blast  of  superheated  steam,  and  subjecting  this  fine 
lead  poM'der  to  the  action  of  acetic  acid  in  large  revolving  cylinders. 
Streams  of  carbon  dioxide  are  driven  into  the  cylinder,  and  a  spray 
of  acetic  acid  is  introduced  from  time  to  time.  The  first  corroding 
period  lasts  five  or  six  days  and  the  lead  is  then  in  little  balls  of 
carbonate  with  uncorroded  particles  in  the  center.  This  must  now  be 
ground  and  corroded  again.  The  final  corrosion  over,  the  white  lead 
is  ground  in  water. 

The  advantage  of  the  Carter  process  is  that,  being  largely  me- 
chanical, it  reduces  the  number  of  employees  who  must  be  exposed 
to  poisoning  during  the  process;  and  from  year  to  year  mechanical 
improvements  make  actual  contact  w^ith  the  lead  less  and  less  neces- 
sary. The  disadvantages  are  that  the  lead  is  in  the  form  of  powder 
from  the  very  beginning,  and  that  there  are  certain  points  in  the 
process  where  it  is  hard  to  avoid  dust,  even  when  everything  goes  well, 
and  wdiere  it  is  impossible  to  do  so  if  anything  goes  wrong  wdtli  the 
machinery.  It  would  not  be  advisable  to  employ  w^ome*!  in  connec- 
tion with  the  atomized  blue  lead,  nor  in  the  cylinder  room,  nor  on  the 
thrashers.  In  fact,  the  only  place  in  which  they  should  be  employed 
is  in  packing  lead  in  oil,  provided  the  precautions  given  above  are 
observed. 

GRINDING   or   PAINT. 

The  only  risk  in  this  work  is  in  handling  the  lead  compounds- 
white  lead,  lead  chromate,  or  chrome  yellow,  and  red  lead — or  in 
breathing  air  contaminated  with  these  compounds.  In  a  well-man- 
aged, paint  factory,  weighing  of  lead  colors  is  done  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  the  escape  of  dust  impossible,  and  grinding  in  oil  takes  place 
in  covered  chasers.  These  processes  are  carried  on  in  rooms  separate 
from  that  in  which  the  keg  filling  is  done.  Under  such  circum- 
stances there  is  no  reason  why  women  should  not  work  at  keg  filling. 
It  is  very  important  to  separate  the  dusty  work  from  the  safe  work. 
In  a  Chicago  paint  house  a  girl  engaged  in  pasting  labels  on  the 
paint  cans  contracted  lead  poisoning  because  they  had  put  her  to 
work  so  near  the  open  scales  where  the  white  lead  was  weighed  as 
to  expose  her  to  the  dust  from  the  dry  white  lead. 

PAINTING    TRADE. 

It  is  so  very  improbable  that  w'omen  will  ever  engage  in  house 
painting  or  ship  painting  that  these  two  branches  of  the  painting 
industry  need  not  be  dwelt  on.    But  there  seems  no  reason  why,  so 


80  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

far  .'ts  their  strength  is  concerned,  they  should  not  be  employed  in 
mucli  of  tlie  painting  that  is  carried  on  in  factories,  especially  in 
painting  furniture,  picture  frames,  moldings,  etc.  They  may  also 
undertake  the  painting  of  wheels  for  -wagons  and  carnages.  This 
sort  of  painting  has,  up  to  now,  been  done  very  largely  by  nnorgan- 
izod  and  more  or  less  unskilled  painters,  and  the  substitution  of  ma- 
cliinery  for  hand  work  has  increased  very  greatly  in  recent  years. 
Much  of  the  painting  of  carriages,  wagons,  automobiles,  and  agricul- 
turnl  im[)lements  is  done  by  mechanical  dipping  into  tanks  of  paint, 
and  painting  by  hand  is  sometimes  limited  to  the  decorations  on  the 
last  coat.  A  great  deal  of  leadless  paint  also  is  used  for  these 
articles.  The  painting  of  furniture,  picture  frames,  moldings,  and 
other  small  objects  is  of  very  little  importance  from  our  point  of 
view,  because  leadless  paints  are  used  almost  entirely.^ 

The  danger  in  the  brandies  of  painting  in  which  women  are  likely 
to  be  employed  lies  in  the  process  of  sandpapering  dry  paint  whicli 
contains  lead.  Even  when  the  actual  painting  is  done  by  machinery 
the  paint,  after  drying,  is  often  rubbed  Avith  sandpaper  to  prepare  it 
for  the  next  coat.  This  is  especially  true  in  painting  wheels.  Car- 
riage and  wagon  wheels  are  sometimes  given  several  coats  of  paint 
rich  in  white  lead  or  red  lead,  and  each  coat  except  the  last  is  rubbed 
with  sandpaper  and  the  dust  is  brushed  off  with  a  soft  brush.  The 
body  of  the, vehicle,  though  painted  chiefly  with  leadless  paint,  may 
be  given  first  a  coat  of  white-lead  paint  and  Avhite-lead  })utty  to 
fill  in  the  inequalities  of  the  wood,  and  these-are  rubbed  with  sand- 
paper. 

Not  only  white  lead,  but  red  lead  and  a  lead  oxide  known  as 
orange  mineral,  and  yellow  lead  chromate,  and  the  mixture  of 
chromate  and  Prussian  blue  called  chrome  green,  are  used  in  paints. 
Finally,  lead  sulphate,  sometimes  called  sublimed  white  lead,  has 
come  into  increasing  use  of  late  years  as  a  substitute  for  white  lend. 
The  most  soluble,  and  consequently  the  most  poisonous  of  these  forms 
of  lead,  is  white  lead.  Next  come  the  oxides,  and  work  Avith  oxide 
paint  may  be  more  dangerous  than  with  white-lead  paint,  because 
red-lead  paint  does  not  keep  well  and  is  usually  mixed  fresh  each 
day  by  the  painter.  The  cluouiates  and  lead  sulphate  are  less  solu- 
ble, ]}i\t  quite  poisonous  enough  to  require  nil  possilde  precautions 
in  handling. 

The  most  important  of  these  precautions  is  the  avoidance  of  dust 
fiom  dry  sandpapering.  In  German}',  France,  Belgiinn,  and  Aus- 
tria the  law  forbids  dry  rubbing  of  lead  paint.  If  it  is  to  be  sand- 
papered, the  sandpaper  must  first  be  moistened  in  some  mineral  oil 

>  As  stalc<]  at  the  bcKinnIn).;,  lead  Is  the  only  poisonous  substance  coiisiderod  hero, 
rix-ap  i)aint  is  usually  Ir'adlcss,  Imt  may  contain  liarniful  volatile  liquids,  such  a.s  licnzcn*- 
and  iiaplttlia,  which  aet  up  a  train  of  syinpfoms  wlion  these  paints  are  used  in  poorly  ven- 
tilated rocius. 


WOMEN   IN   THE   LEAD  INDUSTEIES.  31 

to  prevent  the  dust;  but  rubbing  -witli  pumice  stone  and  water  is 
much  more  usual  in  those  countries,  except  for  the  first  coats  of  paint, 
where  water  can  not  be  used,  for  it  would  raise  the  grain  of  the  wood 
and  cause  metal  to  rust.  Other  sources  of  dust  in  connection  with 
painting  are  the  chipping  off  of  old  paint  that  contains  lead,  the 
wearing  of  dirty  working  clothes,  and  the  shaking  out  of  drop  cloths 
that  are  full  of  lead  paint.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  painters 
to  have  good  washing  facilities  for  their  use  at  noon  and  on  quitting 
work,  because  paint  clings  to  the  hands  and  can  easily  contaminate 
the  food  unless  it  is  carefully  washed  off  before  the  lunch  pail  is 
opened. 

In  employing  women  in  any  branch  of  the  i^ainting  trade  it  will  be 
necessary  to  prohibit  dry  rubbing  down  of  lead  paint,  mixing  dry 
lead  compounds  with  paint,  using  dirty  drop  cloths,  and  chipping 
off  old  lead  paint.  It  will  also  be  necessary  to  insist  on  the  provision 
of  hot  water,  nailbrushes,  soap,  and  towels  for  their  use. 

COMMERCIAL  ARTISTS  OR  RETOUCHERS. 

This  highly  skilled  branch  of  painting,  which  gives  employment 
to  many  women,  has  already  been  mentioned.  It  is  enough  to  say 
here  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  substitute  zinc  white  for 
white  lead  in  the  work  of  retouching,  and  that  where  white-lead 
paint  is  used  it  should  not  be  used  in  an  air  brush.  The  artists 
should  laiow,  as  they  often  do  not,  that  they  are  using  white-lead 
paint,  and  they  .should  be  warned  never  to  put  the  paint  brush  into 
the  mouth.*  Several  instances  have  occurred  of  men  and  women 
who,  severely  poisoned  with  lead,  have  assured  their  physicians  that 
they  were  using  only  zinc  white,  and  in  consequence  the  source  of 
their  symptoms  was  not  discovered  and  they  were  allowed  to  keep  on 
with  their  work  until  seriously  poisoned. 

LITHOTRANSEER  WORK,   OR  DECALCOMANIA. 

This  consists  in  preparing  transfer  paper  which  is  used  in  im- 
pressing patterns  on  pottery.  The  colors  used  are  largely  lead  colors, 
and  the}^  are  ground  diy  and  dusted  dry  onto  prepared  paper. 
When  the  work  is  done  by  hand  even  at  a  table  provided  with  a  glass 
screen  and  an  exhaust  there  is  decided  danger  of  poisoning  from  the 
fine,  light  dust.  Fortunately,  machine  dusting  of  colors  has  been 
introduced  of  late,  and  this  has  lessened  the  dust,  though  it  does  not 
entirely  prevent  the  escape  of  dust.  Lithotransfer  work  is  regarded 
in  Europe  as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  lead  trades.  No  recent  in- 
formation is  available  concerning  the  industry  in  this  country.  In 
1910  eight  girls  and  one  man  were  found  in  Chicago  who  had  suffered 
from  acute  lead  poisoning  during  employment  in  one  large  litho- 
transfer factory.  -^ 


32  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  RED  LEAD  AND  LITHARGE,  OR  "  ROASTING  OXIDES." 

In  the  United  States  the  roasting  of  oxides  is  not  carried  on  in 
connection  Avith  lead  smelting,  as  it  is  in  most  other  conntries,  except 
for  one  smelting  plant.  It  is  either  done  separately  or  in  connection 
Avith  the  making  of  white  lead.  The  dangers  in  the  work  consist  in 
the  fumes  from  the  furnaces,  and  in  the  dust  from  dinnping,  grind- 
ing, screening,  and  packing  the  oxides.  There  is  no  lead  industry  in 
the  country  which  shows  such  a  variety  of  conditions  as  does  the 
I'oasting  of«oxides.  There  are  grinding  rooms  so  free  from  dust 
tliat  one  would  never  know  red  lead  was  manufactured  there,  while 
there  are  others  covered  with  scarlet  powder  from  ceiling  to  floor. 
There  are  also  furnace  rooms  practicall}^  free  from  fumes,  with 
mechanical  rabblers,  with  hoods  over  the  feed  doors,  and  with 
mechanical  discharging  under  cover,  and  again  there  iire  furnace 
rooms  with  no  devices  for  carrying  off  the  fumes  that  escape  when 
the  furnace  man  opens  the  door  and  works  the  charge  back  and  forth 
or  rakes  the  oxides  out  into  an  open  truck. 

.  The  charge  for  the  furnace  is  not  alwaA^s  pig  lead;  much  of  it  may 
be  dry  scrap,  dross,  refuse  from  white-lead  works,  and  imperfectly 
roasted  oxides,  and  this  dusty  stuff  lies  in  heaps  on  the  floor  of  the 
furnace  room.  An  almost  invariable  source  of  dust  is  the  dump  into 
which  trucks  of  oxide  from  the  furnaces  are  emptied,  to  be  ground 
and  screened,  and  another  is  the  dump  from  the  screening  and  bolting 
machines.  In  rare  cases  grinding  takes  place  in  Avater,  but  this  has 
the  disadvantage  of  necessitating  the  use  of  dr3'ing  pai^  like  those 
described  in  the  section  on  white  lead  (p.  28),  the  emptying  of  which 
i.s  always  dusty  and  dangerous. 

Lead  oxides  are  ver}^  light  and  fluffy,  and  it  is  hard  to  prevent 
dust  in  dry  grinding  and  bolting  and  packing.  Even  where  me- 
chanical barrel  packers  are  used  the  work  is  dusty,  and  packing 
su)a]l  kegs  by  liand  is  very  unsafe  work.  In  an  intensive  study  of 
llie  white  and  red  lead  industries,  in  1911,  there  was  found  a  great 
deal  of  lead  poisoning  in  connection  with  white-lead  work',  for  the 
safety  devices  now  found  in  (hat  industry  had  not  yet  been  intro- 
diu'cd.^  There  was,  however,  an  even  higher  rate  among  the  work- 
ers in  red  lead,  and  the  manufactui-e  of  red  lead  and  litharge  has 
not  undergone  as  much  improvement  in  the  years  tha.t  have  elai)sed 
since  then  as  has  the  manufacture  of  white  lead.  It  does  not  seem 
safe  to  recommend  the  employment  of  women  in  any  department  of 
the  manufacture  of  lead  oxides. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  STORAGE  BATTERIES. 

This  is  the  trade  in  whicli  lead  oxides  are  used  in  great  quantities, 
and  in  which  women  have  already  entered  and  will  probably  enter 


M".  S   Buifau  of  Labor,  Biil.  No.  9.".:  Wliilo-lcjid  in.lnslr.v  in  thf  T'nitcd  St.atrs,  hy  Alico 
Hamilton,  M.   D,  p.  I'-jO. 


WOMEN   IX    THE    LEAD   IXDUSTRTES.  33 

in  very  considerable  numbers  in  the  near  future.  It  is  regarded  in 
European  countries  as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  the  lead  trades, 
and  strict  regulations  are  in  force  both  as  to  the  sanitation  of  the 
places  in  which  the  work  is  done  and  as  to  the  methods  of  work  per- 
mitted in  them.  It  is  only  rather  recently  that  we  in  America  have 
awakened  to  the  knowledge  of  the  danger  involved  in  this  work.  In 
191?>  it  was  found  that  in  five  storage-battery  factories,  at  least  17.9 
men  in  every  hundred  employed  in  work  exposing  them  to  lead  had 
suffered  from  lead  poisoning,  and  this  figure  was  far  below  the 
truth,  because  it  was  impossible  to  get  anything  but  very  scanty 
information  from  three  of  these  factories.^  In  one  factory  where 
records  had  been  kept,  the  rate  in  a  single  department  was  as  high  as 
40  per  cent.  This  department  has  been  made  much  safer  in  the 
five  years  since  the  study  was  made.  The  type  of  lead  poisoning 
found  is  usually  acute,  with  colic,  and  in  severe  instances  lead  con- 
vulsions, but  not  palsy  except  sometimes  a  slight  form.  This  is 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  emploj^ees  are  a  shifting  force.  They 
seldom  remain  long  in  this  kind  of  Avork  and  if  they  become  pois- 
oned it  is  because  they  have  been  exposed  to  large  quantities  of 
soluble  lead,  which  is  quickly  absorbed  and  causes  acute  symptoms. 

The  work  in  a  storage-battery  factory  is  fairly  complicated,  but 
for  the  purpose  of  this  study  the  processes  ma}'-  be  divided  into  three 
classes :  Those  which  have  to  do  with  acids  or  paint,  not  lead ;  those 
in  which  metallic  lead  only  is  handled;  and  those  in  which  lead  ox- 
ides, litharge,  and  red  lead  are  handled.  The  first  class  may  be  ig- 
nored, for  there  is  no  lead  danger  involved  so  long  as  these  processes — 
forming  and  charging  and  painting — are  carried  on,  as  they  usu- 
ally are,  in  rooms  separate  from  the  lead  rooms.  The  second  class 
includes  casting  or  molding  the  lead  grids  for  the  Faure  plates, 
trimming  them  of  superfluous  lead,  casting  and  "  spinning "  tlie 
Plantee  plates,  and  lead  burning  the  final  connections  on  the  recepta- 
cle. This  last  is  a  soldering  process  in  which  pure  lead  is  used  in- 
stead of  ordinary  solder,  and  the  heat  is  applied  by  means  of  an  air- 
hydrogen,  gas-hydrogen,  or  oxy-hydrogen  flame.  The  third  class 
covers  the  mixing  of  oxides  with  various  liquids  to  form  a  paste, 
the  rubbing  of  this  paste  into  the  lead  grid  to  make  a  Faure  plate, 
and  the  inspection,  cleaning,  assembling,  and  lead  burning  of  these 
pasted  plates, 

B}^  far  the  most  dangerous  work  is  mixing  the  paste  and  applying 
it  to  the  plates.  There  is  no  need  of  describing  these  processes  fully, 
because  the  employment  of  women  in  such  work  should  never  be  al- 
lowed.    However,  exposure  to  lead-oxide  dust  is  not  confined  to 


^  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bui.  Xo.  105  :  Lead  poisoning  iu  the  manufacture  of 
storage  batteries,  by  Alice  Hamilton,  M.  D.,  p.  23. 


34  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

these  two  departments.  The  pasted  plates  are  dried,  and  though  tho 
surface  after  drying  is  hard  and  firm,  yet  the  plates  can  not  be  han- 
dled without  raising  dust,  tho  shelves  on  which  they  rest  are  always 
covered  with  dust,  and  the  work  of  lifting  them  from  the  racks  and 
carrying  them  to  the  assembling  room  is  dusty.  The  work  in  the  as- 
senihling  room  involves  handling  these  pasted  plates  in  various  waj'-s. 

The  two  departments  in  which  women  are  likely  to  be  employed, 
and.  indeed,  are  already  employed,  are  the  molding  and  casting  of 
grids  and  the  assembling  of  formed  plates.  In  the  molding  room 
there  is  only  metallic  lead,  and  the  dangers  here  can  be  dealt  with 
fairly  easily.  Melting  pots  must  be  properly  hooded;  molding 
should,  if  possible,  be  mechanical,  not  hand  work;  the  lead  scrap 
from  saws  and  trimmers  should  be  caught  in  receptacles,  not  allowed 
to  fall  on  the  floor,  and  dross  from  the  melting  pots  should  be  handled 
in  the  same  way.  The  room  should  be  large  and  amply  ^■entilated, 
espccialJy  if  gas  is  used  under  the  kettles.  In  short,  the  employer 
should  act  on  the  principle  that  melting  and  molding  lead,  no  matter 
how  well  done,  results  in  some  contamination  of  the  air,  and  the  only 
safe  thing  is  to  dilute  this  contaminating  lead  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent  with  quantities  of  fresh  air. 

In  the  assembling  room  it  is  not  so  easy  to  do  away  with  the  danger 
of  lead  poisoning,  because  here  is  found  not  only  metallic  lead  but 
more  or  less  dr}^  lead  oxides  from  the  pasted  plates.  These  plates  are 
inspected  and  the  imperfect  ones  are  rejected,  or  straightened, 
trimmed,  and  filed.  Small  plates,  Avhich  have  been  pasted  in  pairs, 
are  sawed  apart.  The  edges  and  the  projecting  piece  of  the  grid 
called  the  "  hig '"  are  cleaned  to  get  rid  of  the  paste  and  leave  a 
shining  metallic  surface,  so  that  good  connections  ma}'  be  made  by 
the  lead  burner.  This  work  may  be  done  by  hand  or  by  machine. 
TJu'  actual  assemblers  also  handle  those  dry  oxide  plates,  but  not  in 
such  a  way  as  to  involve  much  dust.  They  group  the  plates  together 
and  slip  a  thin  wood  or  rubber  separator  betw'een  each  pair  of  plates. 
Then  tliese  groups  are  fastened  together  by  the  lead  burners. 

In  11)13,  in  two  factories  employing  020  men  in  lead  Avork,  the 
propoi'tion  of  cases  of  lead  poisoning  in  these  different  classes  of 
work  was  as  follows:^ 

Casting — metallic  lead  only 1.  7 

Mixing  paste — dry  load  oxidos* -10.0 

ra.sting  plates — lead  oxides,  dry  and  wel 10.  4 

Assembling  and  lead  burning 10.7 

'J'his  shows  how  much  greater  is  the  risk  in  assembling  and  lead 
burning  than  in  casting,  the  added  element  of  risk  being  the  presence 

'  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Lal>or  Statistics,  Bui.  No.  105:  Load  poisoning  in  tho  manufacture  of 
Blor-'ifff  l)altorios,  1),v  AWro  IlanilKon,  M.  I).,  p,  24. 

-■  Tills  included  the  nion  who  liliid  so-called  "  ironclads"  willi  dry  oxides,  at  tliat  time 
Tory  dusty,  dangerous  work,  but  much  less  so  at  present. 


WOMEX   IN    THE    LEAD   IXDUSTEIES.  35 

0£  lead-oxide  dust.  If  women  are  to  be  employed  in  the  assembling 
and  lead-burning  department  great  precautions  Avill  have  to  be  taken. 
The  space  allotted  to  each  worker  must  be  much  more  generously  cal- 
culated than  in  an  ordinar}^  factory.  Not  only  must  there  be  no 
OA'ercrowding,  but  there  must  be  a  very  ample  supply  of  air.  Xo 
oxide  dust  must  be  allowed  to  accumulate  on  floors  or  benches,  and 
no  dry  cleaning  must  be  allowed.  Benches  must  be  wiped  off  with 
moist  cloths  and  the  floors  mopped  or  flushed.  Racks  of  dry  plates 
must  never  be  stored  in  this  room,  nor  the  drying  cabinets  be  placed 
in  this  room.  After  the  dried  plates  have  been  removed  from  a  rack 
this  rack  must  be  wiped  with  a  Avet  cloth  before  it  is  used  again.  Lug 
cleaning  must  be  done  by  machine  and  the  dust  carried  off  by  suction. 
It  is  fai'  better  to  separate  the  actual  processes  of  assembling  from  the 
work  of  inspection,  trimming,  sawing,  and  lug  cleaning.  If  this  is 
done,  assembling  and  lead  burning  will  probably  prove  to  be  as  free 
from  danger  as  the  work  in  the  molding  room. 

GLAZING  OF  POTTEaY  AND  TILES. 

The  pottery  industry  of  the  United  States  has  never,  up  to  now, 
given  employment  to  large  numbers  of  women  in  those  occupations 
where  lead  poisoning  is  a  danger.  In  1910  and  1911  the  white-ware 
industiy.  which  was  carried  on  chiefl}^  in  the  region  around  East 
Liverj^ool,  Ohio,  and  in  and  about  Trenton,  N.  J.,  had  393  women 
engaged  in  lead  work  in  68  potteries,  while  2,112  men  were  working 
in  these  same  processes."'  At  that  time  lead  poisoning  in  the  potteries, 
so  notorious  in  England  and  Germany,  had  attracted  no  attention  at 
all  in  this  country,  perhaps  because  the  industry  was  not  large  and 
was  concentrated  in  two  regions.  Many  improvements  have  taken 
place  in  American  potteries  since  that  date,  especially  in  white-ware 
potteries  where  the  labor  is  strongly  organized.  The  so-called  yellow 
ware,  and  art  and  utility  Avare,  is  made  in  the  Zanesville,  Ohio,  dis-' 
trict  chiefly,  and  the  labor  is  entirely  unorganized.  Tile  factories 
are  much  more  scattered,  being  found  in  man}^  States.  Here,  too,  the 
labor  is  unorganized. 

The  glaze  used  in  the  white-ware  potteries  Avhich  were  visited  con- 
tained from  1.75  to  33.3  per  cent  of  white  lead.  In  the  potteries 
making  art  and  utility  ware  (yellow  ware)  and  in  the  tile  factories 
the  glazes  contain  from  5  to  60  per  cent  of  white  lead.  The  dangerous 
processes  are  mixing  the  glaze,  dipping  Avare  into  glaze,  cleaning  the 
dipped  ware  to  get  rid  of  the  excess  of  glaze  and  stacking  it  on 
boards  or  traj^s  to  be  fired,  and  decorating  it  by  the  processes  known 
as  color  blowing,  or  tinting,  and  gromid  laying. 

Mixing  is  done  by  unskilled  laborers  under  the  direction  of  a 
skilled  foreman.    The  mixed  glaze  is  poured  into  tubs  for  the  dip- 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bnl.  No.  104  :  Lead  poisoning  in  potteries,  tile  works, 
and  porcelain  enameled  sanitary  ware  factories,  by  Alice  Hamilton,  M.  D.,  p.  6. 


36  BULLETIX   OF   THE    IJUEEAU   OF    i^ABOR   STATISTICS. 

per,  Avho  is  a  highly  skilled  ■workman.  He  immerses  the  ware  in  the 
glaze,  brings  it  out  in  such  a  way  that  the  coat  of  glaze  is  evenly 
distributed  all  over  the  surface,  and  puts  it  on  a  board  or  tray  to 
dry.  This  work  is  not  done  by  Avomen  in  the  United  States  except 
sometimes  in  art-ware  potteries  when  the  vase  is  both  dipped  and 
brushed  with  glaze.  The  dippers'  helpers,  however,  are  women,  ex- 
cept in  sanitary-ware  potteries,  where  the  large  and  heavy  ware 
could  not  be  lifted  by  women.  The  women  do  what  is  called  finish- 
ing, that  is,  the}^  remove  the  excess  of  glaze  either  by  sponging  or  by 
rubbing  it  with  a  drv.  rough  fabric,  or  by  sd'aping  with  a  knife,  and 
blowing  or  brushing  away  the  dust.  These  women  also  stack  the 
ware  on  boards  for  the  glost-kiln  men,  they  clean  the  boards  on  wdiich 
the  dipped  ware  is  carried,  sometimes  by  sponging,  but  sometimes 
by  pounding  against  the  floor  or  wall  to  shake  the  dust  off,  and  they 
sweep  up  the  glaze  room.  The  rate  of  lead  poisoning  among  these 
women  employed  in  the  potteries  in  1911  was  just  below  20  per  cent, 
while  among  the  men  dippers  it  was  only  6.5  per  cent.  In  the  art 
and  utility  ware  potteries  this  difference  between  the  two  sexes  did 
not  appear.  The  rate  there  was  a  little  over  20  per  cent  for  both 
sexes.  The  workers  in  the  latter  industry  are  exposed  to  greater 
dangers  than  those  in  white  ware,  because  the  glaze"  is  richer  in  lead, 
more  decorating  is  done  with  lead  colors,  and  a  lower  standard  of 
living,  due  to  wages  being  decidedly  lower  than  in  the  white- ware 
potteries,  makes  them  more  susceptible. 

The  glazing  of  tiles  is  sometimes  fairly  safe  work,  sometimes  very 
bad.  For  Avhite  tiles  the  glaze  may  contain  as  little  as  5  per  cent  of 
lead,  and  it  may  be  applied  by  machinery.  But  colored  glazes  may 
contain  50  or  even  60  per  cent  of  lead,  and  dipping  is  done  by  hand. 
"  Fettling,*'  that  is,  scraping  off  the  excess  of  glaze,  is  more  dan- 
gerous than  the  actual  glazing  of  the  tiles  because  it  is  dustier.  In 
all  English  tile  works  and  in  many  German  ones  it  is  the  rule  to 
scrape  the  excess  glaze  while  it  is  damp  and  let  it  fall  into  a  pan  of 
water.  In  all  the  tile  works  visited  in  this  country  much  of  the 
fettling,  if  not  all,  is  done  after  the  glaze  is  dry,  and  the  glaze  dust 
is  allowed  to  fall  anywhere. 

Color  blowing,  or  "tinting,*'  has  given  way  largely  to  decalco- 
mania — decoration  by  means  of  lithotransfer  paper.  Though  the 
making  of  lithotransfers  is  dangerous  work,  their  application  to  pot- 
tery ware  is  perfectly  safe.  In  tinting,  the  colors  are  applied  in  the 
form  of  a  spray  driven  through  an  atomizer  by  compressed  air. 
The  ware  is  held  under  a  hood,  and  an  exhaust  is  supposed  to  carry 
off  all  the  spray  that  does  not  fall  on  the  surface  of  the  ware.  Ground 
laying  consists  in  dusting  di-y  colors  on  a  prepared  surface  by  means 
of  pads  of  cotton.  Botli  kinds  of  work  involve  a  good  deal  of  risk 
unless  great  precautions  are  taken. 


WOMEN   IKT   THE   LEAD  INDUSTEIES.  37 

A  visit  to  an  English  pottery  or  tile  works  will  convince  anyone 
that  it  is  possible  so  to  construct  dipping  rooms  as  to  allow  of 
thorough  flushing  down,  and  to  carry  on  dipping  in  such  a  way  that 
the  room  is  kept  clean,  and  finishing  in  such  a  way  that  the  women 
who  scrape  the  glaze  from  Avare  and  tiles  run  very  little  risk  of  lead 
poisoning.  In  English  potteries  in  1910  the  rate  of  plumbism  was 
0.8  per  cent  for  men  and  1.5  per  cent  for  women,  while  in  68  Ameri- 
can potteries  and  tile  works  in  1911  the  rate  was  8  per  cent  for  men 
and  14  per  cent  for  women — almost  exactly  ten  times  as  much.  Th(3 
difference  between  the' two  countries  at  that  time  was  very  striking, 
but  conditions  in  x\merican  potteries  have  improved  since  then  and 
the  contrast  is  not  so  great  now.^ 

MANUFACTURE    OF    PORCELAIN    ENAMELED    SANITARY    WARE. 

This  is  a  ver}^  dangerous  lead  trade,  in  which  women  have  never 
been  employed  and  probabl}?^  never  Avill  be,  for  the  work  requires 
a  good  deal  of  physical  strength.  The  processes  involving  exposure 
to  lead  are  grinding  the  enamel,  which  contains  varying  proportions 
of  soluble  lead,  and  sifting  it  thickly  over  red-hot  ironware,  in  the 
course  of  which  great  clouds  of  dust  are  given  off.  The  work  is 
done  on  piecework  basis;  the  firing  of  the  ware  is  heavy  work  and 
very  hot,  both  the  heat  and  the  great  exertion  increasing  the  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  enamelers  to  lead  poisoning.  The  rate  of  poisoning 
among  1,012  men  employed  during  1911  was  21.4  per  cent,  but  148 
men  who  were  examined  carefully  showed  a  rate  of  36  per  cent. 

COMPOUNDING  OF  RUBBER. 

The  compounding  of  rubber  is  the  onl}^  process  in  the  rubber  in- 
dustry that  involves  exposure  to  lead.  Litharge  (lead  oxide),  lead 
sulphate  (commonly  called  sublimed  lead) ,  and  in  rare  instances  white 
lead  are  sifted  or  bolted,  weighed,  and  mixed  in  mixing  mills  with 
the  crude  rubber.  The  risk  here  is  from  lead  dust,  and  it  can  be 
minimized  by  careful  handling,  scrupulous  cleanliness  of  the  prem- 
ises, and  the  use  of  exhausts  at  the  scales  and  mixing  mills.  This 
work  has  never  yet  been  done  by  women  and  it  is  not  advisable  that 
they  should  be  employed  in  it. 

PREVENTION   OF   LEAD   POISONING. 

It  is  not  hard  to  remember  the  rules  for  protecting  workers  against 
lead  poisoning,  if  one  bears  in  mind  the  fact  that  lead  enters  the 
human  bod}^  chiefly  through  the  mouth,  either  in  the  form  of  dust  and 
fumes  or  smeared  on  the  surface  of  food  and  tobacco.  All  the  rules 
formulated  for  the  lead  trades  by  sanitary  experts  are  based  on  the 
prevention  of  lead  dust  and  fumes  and  the  necessit};'  for  bodily  clean- 

^  Ohio  State  Board  of  Health.  A  survoy  of  industrial  health  hazards  and  occupational 
diseases  in  Ohio,  by  E.  R.  Hayhui'sl.     Columbus,  1915,  pp.  229-256. 


S8  BULLETIN   OF    THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

liness  on  the  part  of  the  workers.  Briefly  stated,  the  following-  rules 
should  be  enforced  in  every  lead  industry  where  women  are  to  be 
employed : 

Scrupulous  cleanliness  of  floors,  walls,  workbenches,  window  silis, 
tops  of  pipes,  and  all  other  surface^  where  dust  might  collect.  Clean- 
ing should  be  done  wherever  possible  with  water  or  oil.  Dry  clean- 
ing should  be  forbidden  during  working  hours. 

Ventilation  should  be  more  ample  than  that  required  for  work  that 
is  free  from  lead. 

All  dusty  work  should  be  carried  on  luider  cover,  or  with  an  ex- 
haust so  placed  as  to  catch  the  dust  at  its  point  of  origin. 

All  receptacles  for  molten  lead  should  be  hooded,  and  the  hood  con- 
nected with  an  air  exhaust;  dross  skimmings  should  be  thrown  into 
a  receptacle. 

Lead  scrap  and  trimmings  should  be  caught  in  receptacles,  not 
allowed  to  fly  over  the  floor. 

Xo  dry  rubbing  of  lead  paint  and  no  scraping  or  brushing  of  dry 
lead  glaze  should  be  allowed. 

A  full  suit  of  w^orking  clothes  of  washable  material  should  be 
worn  by  every  woman  engaged  in  leadwork.  This  suit  should  be 
laundered  at  least  once  a  week.  If  there  is  any  exposure  to  lead  dust 
a  washable  cap  should  be  worn  and  laundered  at  least  once  a  week. 
So  far  as  the  work  permits,  gloves,  preferably  washable,  should  be 
worn  and  should  be  washed  at  frequent  intervals. 

Xo  food  should  be  taken  into  a  workroom;  no  worker  should  eat 
lundi  Avithout  first  washing  her  hands  thoroughly  with  soap  and  hot 
water  and  the  use  of  a  nailbrush.  Women  should  be  advised  to  rinse 
the  mouth  or  brush  the  teeth  before  eating  lunch. 

A  phj'sician  should  be  emplo^^ed  to  supervise  the  woman  lead  em- 
j)lo3'ees.  He  should  examine  on  employment,  or  shortly  after  em- 
ployment, every  woman  who  is  to  engage  in  leadwork,  and  should 
reject  those  who  are  anemic  or  show  evidence  of  disease  of  lungs, 
heart,  or  kidne3'S,  or  who  are  pregnant.  It  is  advisable  to  reject  also 
women  suffering  from  obstinate  constipation,  women  with  very 
defective  teeth,  and  married  women  who  are  in  the  childbearing 
period.  The  physician  shoukl  reexamine  Avomen  engaged  in  lead- 
work  at  frequent  intervals.  It  is  better  to  make  a  cursory  examina- 
tion once  a  week  than  a  moie  Ihorough  one  once  in  two  months. 

In  deciding  as  to  the  length  of  the  workday  for  woman  lead  workers 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  longer  the  hours  the  greater  the  doso 
of  lead  absorbed,  and  the  shorter  the  period  for  elimination  of  the 
dose  before  the  next  workday.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
fatigue  increases  susceptibility  to  lead  poisoning,  and  so  does  a  heated 
or  humid  atmosphere. 


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